The Sky isn't the Limit Anymore
by battlestar2586
Summary: This is focused primarily on my own character's and Mikumo's relationship, but will at times focus on Hayate and Freyja, and some other pairings. This will also include a story line that takes place AFTER episode 26, so if you haven't watched the anime, you might want to. Hayate X Freyja, OC X Mikumo, WILL include graphic violence, M-rated lemons and more. Rated M for mature.
1. Chapter 1

It had been about 2 weeks since the battle at Ragna. Unsurprisingly, the people of Ragna quickly adjusted to the new peace. However, there were many unanswered questions about the future. There were many on the minds of the people and the members of Chaos, none larger than the question of what should be done about a certain violet-haired singer who just happened to have the ability to control the minds of an entire sector of the universe with her songs… For now, the members of Walkure and Delta Platoon were just focusing on trying to get on with their somewhat normal lives again. Especially a certain dancing pilot and a Windermerean singer...

 _Macross Elysion_

Kaname, Walkure's manager, is walking along the captain of Delta Platoon, Captain Arad, discussing how to get Chaos back on its feet, especially after the significant damage the Elysion sustained in the battle of Ragna.

"So, how many concerts do you think Walkure can perform to meet that 20th percentile, Captain?"

"I don't know, but I'd rather you guys not push yourselves too hard, I'm pretty sure everyone needs a little more than a couple months to recover from all that chaos." (He said, without irony)

"I know, but NUNS is unpredictable, especially after all the top brass knows what Mikumo can do. We might not have the time to relax to our hearts' desires."

"I see where you're coming from, but I don't know if our fledglings will be willing to push themselves that hard again so soon…"

"After all that's happened, can you really call them 'fledglings'?"

Arad sighs, as he takes out a piece of the jellycatfish that he always chews on. "I guess not, but as skilled as they both are, they're not the same as us - they need R&R a little more than we do, but that's to be expected"

Kaname smirks as she notes, "Especially with the recent "development" in their relationship, I would imagine."

"Heh, you don't have to remind me of that," Arad chuckles softly as thinks back to the situation he and the other two members of Delta Platoon found themselves in when they realized that the newest member of Walkure and Delta Platoon didn't have any intention of coming down after the battle on Ragna…

*Flashback*

"Hey, Hayate, how long do you and Freyja intend to fly around?!" Mirage yells through the comm in her Siegfried.

Hayate obviously wasn't listening, or rather he couldn't. Not with Freyja singing softly to him as she sat in his lap as he was flying through the sky. Freyja, on the other hand, couldn't care less about the rest of the world right now, all she cared about was singing and Hayate, whom she decided she would romantically pursue as best as she could. Even as she was slightly embarrassed on the inside about her position on Hayate's lap, she was happy. During their brief mental imprisonment two weeks ago, she was sure she felt Hayate bore some sort of romantic feeling towards her, and as long as that existed, she would act on it. She kept that in mind as her rune glowed a soft pink during her private concert for Hayate.

Below them on the beach, Mirage and Arad were getting a little annoyed. Well, Mirage was getting _really_ annoyed, as she conceded Hayate to Freyja during the battle of Ragna, and she felt like Freyja was rubbing it in, literally hopping into Hayate's cockpit during the heat of battle, and now she was giving him a private concert IN HIS COCKPIT, of all places?! Off to the side, Arad couldn't help but laugh at the situation he found himself in.

"Captain Arad, what's so funny?" Mirage growled softly at her superior.

Arad, in response, simply holds his hands up in surrender, and states, as matter-of-factly as he could, "Let the jellyfish swim as they please, and they'll come to you on their own."

Mirage raised a skeptical eyebrow to her commander's metaphor, not because she didn't understand, but because she didn't know how anyone could compare Hayate and Freyja to a pair of jellyfish, but simply sighed as she climbed back into the back of the cockpit of her Siegfried to chase down the two.

She was stopped by Makina and Reina, both of whom had noticeably devious grins on their faces.

"Wait a minute, Mira-Mira, I think we have an idea on how to get those two down."

"That's right, and I'm certain it'll work."

"What exactly do you two plan on doing?"

The two simply smiled and winked at her, saying simultaneously, "Just trust us."

Mirage sighed and asked, "What do you need from me?"

"We only need to borrow your comm and a holo screen."

"Why do you need a holo screen?"

"So we can see their reactions, of course!"

Mirage reluctantly handed over the requested items, while the remaining members of Walkure and Delta Platoon looked on with mixed curiosity.

Reina connected the screen to the data pad and keyboard that she seemingly always had with the comm.

After a minute or so of tinkering, the screen displayed a front of view of Hayate's cockpit, or what it would've looked had Freyja not been sitting with her back faced in front of the cockpit camera, much to everyone's surprise. Hayate's arms and legs were visible, and a bit of his face was visible from the camera, probably to fly straight. Which meant he could see his screen. Which meant that whatever Reina put on his screen would be visible to him and not Freyja.

"Fre-Fre, could you and Haya-Haya come back down here, we kinda need you two?"

As expected, they didn't respond, so Reina spoke on the comm. "Freyja, we still have that photo of when you fell on the beach and your bottom came off when Hayate wasn't around."

Freyja immediately stopped singing as she visibly jolted in Hayate's lap, causing one of his legs to pull on the pedals, sending his fighter into a brief spin.

After Hayate regained control of his fighter, he lightly scolds Freyja, saying,"H-hey, Freyja, they're just messing with you, calm down"

"Are you sure about that, Hayate?" Reina smirks as she loads an image onto his cockpit's screen.

Hayate glances at the sudden change from his instruments to a picture of Freyja in a strange position with her rear in the air, and her bikini bottom is slightly lower than it should have been, revealing more of Freyja than he'd ever seen.

"H-HUHHHHH?!" Hayate exclaims as his cheeks flush, causing Freyja to turn around and look at what could possibly have made Hayate, of all people, blush and act the way he did, only to blush in absolute horror at the embarrassing picture she thought she had Reina delete.

"UWAAAAHHHHH! WHY DOES THIS PICTURE STILL EXIST?!" Freyja screams as she grabs Hayate's head and pulls it to her chest, to ensure he doesn't look at the image longer than he already did, her rune changing from a low, pinkish hue to a bright pink, easily visible in the cockpit camera. As a result, Hayate temporarily let go of his flight controls to free his head from Freyja's grasp, causing his fighter to pitch suddenly.

Back on the beach, all the members of Walkure and Delta Platoon burst out laughing, save for Mikumo and Mirage, who briefly glanced at each other, and sighed in resignation.

*End Flashback*

"Speaking of which, where are those two right now?" Arad asks as he remembers that Delta Platoon was supposed to perform an air show at Walkure's concert tonight.

"Oh, Hayate and Freyja are sitting on the top deck of the Aether right now."

"Well, give them a little time alone, I think we harassed them enough, for now atleast."

"Considering the fact that things definitely aren't gonna get any less hectic from now on, I agree."


	2. Chapter 2

_The Aether, Flight Launch Deck_

Freyja sat next to the hangar where the fighters were stored, gazing at the sky which, was normally clear, was cluttered with various aircraft, most of which were standard NUNS VF-171s, although there were some of Chaos' fighters flying around. Only one of which grabbed her attention as she easily found a certain VF-31 adorned with the Grim Reaper's insignia, with one noticeable difference: it didn't have the standard black wing trim like most other VF-31s, its trim was a blue, or rather, she thought, teal. It was a similar color to his hair and eyes, she thought. She quickly became immersed in thought as she thought about their current relationship status.

"I would love to have a long, happy life with him, but I doubt the universe has time for that." She thought to herself.

She then remembered the pale gray blight, as they referred to it, that sat on her hand. It hadn't gotten any bigger since the battle of Ragna, but she tried desperately not to think of it, but whenever the future became a topic in her mind, her thoughts always drifted to the ugly thing. She wondered if there was a way to stop it, if not, reverse it. No solution had been discovered yet, but she remained hopeful, despite the knowledge that she only had half a life left. She was determined to make the most of it, even more so with the man she decided to claim as her lover.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice Hayate's Siegfried fly up to her in its half fighter, half battleroid form and land a couple meters away from her.

"Hey, Freyja! What's wrong?!"

The sudden jolt of his voice, in addition to a five-meter Siegfried appearing right of her made jump, literally, causing her to fall off the angled launch deck of the Aether. She screamed in a mix of surprise and horror, as she found herself plummeting off the Aether and towards the ocean below. The fear was short-lived, as she felt a metallic surface materialize below her, as she turned to see the Siegfried that surprised her had its arm out and was holding her.

"H-Hayate! What was that for?!"

"What, me saving you from hitting the ocean too hard?"

Freyja's cheeks flushed and her rune immediately pulsed brightly.

"N-No, you idiot! You scared me half to death and that's why I fell off in the first place!"

Hayate chuckled as he brought the arm that held Freyja closer to his cockpit.

"Why were you sitting so close to the edge to begin with, anyway?"

Freyja's rune stopped glowing as brightly as it did, however, her cheeks remained as flushed as they were.

"I wanna talk to you, after you're done with whatever it is that you're doing..."

"What's that supposed to mean, you can't tell me right now?" Hayate asked, his mind piecing together what Freyja might want with him.

"I want to be alone with you when I say this."

All traces of humor left Hayate's voice and thoughts.

"What's wrong, Freyja?"

Freyja, seeing that he was getting concerned, quickly responded, "Nothing, Hayate, I just want to talk without the others around to hear it, it's kinda a personal thing, I guess."

"Alright, but honestly, if anything's wrong, let me know, okay?" Hayate responds, not quite convinced by Freyja's answer.

"Of course. Can you meet me down by the usual spot?"

The "usual" spot was what the two called the patch of beach by Chuck's restaurant, and although they hadn't visited it recently, it was still their favorite spot due to its proximity to both the restaurant and the tram that took them to the Elysion's standard docking area.

"Yeah, I'll meet you there as soon as I finish repairing my section on the Elysion's bridge. Although, I might have to stay longer if Mirage or the Captain gets mad at me."

As if on cue, Mirage's voice comes on through Hayate's cockpit.

"Delta 4, you're not done repairing the bridge yet! Stop slacking off and get back here!"

Hayate sighs before responding, "Yes ma'am, just let me put down Freyja before I come back."

"What the- Why are you holding Freyja?! She's supposed to be practicing with the rest of Walkure today! Did you really fly over and grab her just so you could mess with her?!"

"Calm down, Mirage, she doesn't have practice, Mikumo didn't feel well, so they canceled."

Mirage, satisfied with his answer, simply cuts off and resumes her work.

"Alright, Freyja, take it easy if you're gonna be up here, I'll be back in a couple of hours, okay?"

Freyja hops off and simply gives her signature smile and laugh as she waves him off. As soon as she's certain that he couldn't see her, her smile is replaced with an uncharacteristically serious face. She mentally steels herself for what she plans to tell him.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Elysion..._

Kaname is sitting at one of the computers, looking over a series of personnel files. Reina is sitting next to her, her fingers a flurry as she types on a holographic keyboard. Captain Arad and Captain Ernest Johnson are sitting in a corner, looking at the images of the personnel files Kaname and Reina are sorting out. After ten minutes of typing and scrolling, Reina displays a set of personnel files on a large holographic screen.

Kaname stands up and hands a data pad to Captain Arad before going back to her seat and saying, "These are the pilots that match your criteria, Captain."

Arad and Ernest scroll through various images of the aforementioned people for a couple minutes. Arad looks up and asks, "Are there any others?"

Reina responds by saying, "You said you wanted talented pilots, err combatants, and that's all I could find."

Arad, knowing just how proficient Reina was, simply shakes his head, saying, "I know, but these guys aren't exactly very special, Hayate as a first-year pilot could outperform these guys."

Captain Ernest lifts his head slightly to level his gaze at Kaname and Reina. "Are you sure there aren't any others? I understand we're looking for pilots primarily, but if you've found a skilled soldier or agent, I'd at least like to review his profile."

Kaname and Reina glance at each other, both of them nodding before Reina types something on her data pad and hands it to Kaname, who also types something on it, bringing up an image of a man who looks to be in his early twenties with straight middle length, black hair that almost perfectly matches his slightly lighter eyes. The profile notes that the man mentioned is not well known in any database and is highly dangerous but doesn't explain what makes him dangerous. Arad and Ernest look at the image, before looking back at the list of pilots. After a minute, Ernest asks neither of the two girls in particular, "Is there a reason that this man wasn't included in the personnel list?"

Kaname responds, "Well, as the profile mentions, as well as the data Reina scrapped together, this guy is really dangerous, but no one knows why. Also, it appears that he's more of a rogue mercenary than a soldier, which for us, could be either better or worse."

"What makes him worse?" Arad asks, not quite understanding what the point is.

"Well," Reina says, "he doesn't have any flight records, not even a flight school certificate, which normally wouldn't be unordinary, considering Hayate didn't have one when he joined Chaos, this guy is definitely a skilled fighter, if not anything else. But, something about this guy is definitely different from the others, and I don't just mean that he's not a pilot."

"That might be what we need," Ernest says as he stands up, "because I received a request from Lady M to find a way or a person to better protect Mikumo. Given that we normally pair a pilot with each member of Walkure, I understand why we might want another pilot, but given how unstable NUNS is right now, in addition to the top brass in NUNS being primarily composed of power-hungry, selfish idiots, it's entirely possible that NUNS might end up pursuing Mikumo as our enemy."

"In which case another pilot wouldn't matter." Arad notes, finishing Ernest's thoughts. "If NUNS wanted Mikumo, they'd have to capture her alive, in which case they'd most likely to board the vessel that she's on."

"So, we might actually want someone who's not a pilot if he/she is an expert marksman or close quarters expert?" Kaname asks, somewhat skeptical about the whole situation.

"Well," Arad says, "I guess we just bring the guy in and we see what he's made of."

"Does anyone have any better ideas?" Ernest asks to no one in particular.

Seeing that no one spoke up, he confirms to the group, "Alright, we'll bring in this _Shiro Okumura_ , and see what he can do."

* * *

Please review, I could use some feedback! 


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, sorry about the inconsistency, as I mentioned before, I am new to this. I also recently found that the head notes and foot notes that I posted for the first two chapters didn't show completely, so I apologize for that. I will try to post a new chapter within three days of the last one, if possible. Also, the length of these chapters will probably vary a bit, but they will always be between 1100-1850 words. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _The Hermera, early morning_

* * *

A shuttle touches down on the flight deck, its rear facing the hangar in which the VFs reside. Captain Arad and Captain Ernest are standing behind the shuttle as it touches down. Mirage is with them as well. After the shuttle's engines power off, the rear doors open to reveal a masculine figure. The shadows that cover his face dissipate as he steps forward. His face and his hair are almost identical to his profile image. However, his shoulders are broader, slightly more so than Captain Arad's, his arms visibly toned, his legs equally so. He looks like a soldier, but even Captain Ernest had seen dedicated close combat specialists with less bulk. The most notable feature is that there are two scabbards on his back, presumably swords, and rather large ones at that, as the blades run down to the mid section of his upper legs. Mirage couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the notion of someone using swords in this day and age, but she quickly remembered the Aerial Knights that they'd fought with used swords in close combat as well, and efficiently at that. He glances between the three members of the trio standing before him, before focusing his gaze upon Captain Ernest's.

"I assume you are Captain Ernest Johnson?" His voice is smooth and his tone somewhat resembles Hayate's, although sounding noticeably older.

"That is correct. These are my closest subordinates, Captain Arad, and First Lieutenant Jenius. You are Shiro Okumura, yes?" Ernest responds.

"Then I also understand that by traveling here, you accepted the contract that was sent to you?" Ernest asks.

"Yes. I understand you are in need of an individual who is capable of intense close quarters combat, while also being able to protect a certain high-value individual?"

"Correct, although it would probably be preferable to discuss these things in somewhere more private." Ernest notes, seeing as how they were still on the open flight deck of the Hermera.

"I agree, it is a pleasure to meet you both, Captain Arad, Lieutenant Jenius." Shiro responds, his tone polite but his expression stoic.

"Likewise." they both respond at almost the same time.

"I feel it would be beneficial to you to take a brief tour of the Elysion, so that you may at least familiarize yourself with the layout of the Elysion. You will have to pardon all of the noise and construction, as we are still undergoing repairs." Ernest states.

"Not a problem." Shiro says, "Is there a place that I may place my belongings while we explore the ship?" Shiro asks.

"You mean your blades?" Arad asks.

"No, I am comfortable holding both of my blades on back, I was referring to the rest of my equipment." Shiro says as he motions to a large, strange, floating box that hovered behind him at a small, but sizable distance.

"What is that object?" Mirage asks, curious about the large floating box-like object. It took up 2/3 of the aisle in the shuttle, she noticed.

"This, for all intents and purposes, is my mobile armory, in which I store my armaments and belongings." Shiro explains. "I have no problems with leaving it anywhere, as it only opens to me and those that I authorize, it's just I think it would be somewhat obstructive sitting on a flight deck, which is still active."

"If it is capable of moving on its own, then I do not mind if it follows us around." Ernest states.

With the matter settled, the group proceeded to move into the Hermera's hangar. However, just before Ernest could begin, a young girl with long, green hair and what appeared to be a squid ornament on her head walked up to the Captain and handed him a data pad. He look annoyed for a moment, but after a minute or so of glaring at the data pad, he simply sighed and spoke in discernibly to Arad, who simply nodded and walked up to Shiro.

"It looks like the Captain has an important visitor, and one that he can't afford to ignore. I also have to be present with the Captain, so Lt. Jenius will be escorting you through the ship, along with one of the members of Walkure."

"Walkure?"

"Lt. Jenius will cover all that, we should be done in about four hours, which will probably bet the time it takes you to explore this ship."

And just like that, Arad hurried off with the Captain and the girl, presumably his secretary, or something.

Mirage walked up to Shiro, and explained, "I guess you haven't really heard about all of the stuff that's been happening around here lately, have you?"

"It would appear that way," Shiro noted, his expression as blank as when he first arrived.

"Well don't worry about it," Mirage smiles a bit as she talks "Makina and I will ensure that you know all that you need to know."

"Makina? Is she one of the pilots?" Shiro asks, somewhat confused by the informality of the way people were addressed.

"No, she's a mechanic, and one of the singers in the tactical sound unit, Walkure."

"Well, that explains a lot of things," Shiro states, mentally combining the recent information with past information about an all girls band jumping from planes and singing to ultra-violent individuals who, more often than not, were piloting some sort of Variable Fighter or were a Zentradi soldier gone berserk.

"Oh, speaking of which, here she comes." Mirage says, breaking Shiro's mental train of thought.

The first thing that stuck out to him, unlike most men upon seeing Makina, was that she didn't look like a mechanic at all, although he could believe that she was a singer, as her bubbly personality and her rather curvaceous body figure made it obvious. What Shiro thought, although he never let it show, is that it should be literally impossible to properly work on any machinery with her body and her choice outfit. He didn't show any reaction in regards to that thought, even when Makina obviously teased him when she "tripped" on an object that he missed and landed with her rear in the air, much to the disdain of his other guide.

After he made it blatantly clear that such behavior would not yield a reaction from him, she stopped, but not before giving him a playful pout, and they promptly resumed the tour. Half an hour in, Makina's cell rang, and she said she had to get back to work on the Hermera's hangar bay, leaving Shiro alone with Mirage.

* * *

One and half hours later

"Well, that's about all you need to know, for now at least, Mr. Okumura."

"Thank you, Lt. I certainly appreciate the help."

"Are you sure you don't have any questions? You only asked where your quarters were, and the fastest way to the bridge and the hangar bays."

"I am certain that I am familiar enough with the ship to be able to navigate it. Please do not let me concern you."

"OK. If you have any complaints, please report them to my superior." Mirage states before she walks off.

Shiro looks at his watch, noting the time before glancing back at the floating box that followed him around. No one had asked about it, although it had attracted some attention from some of the crew members. Shiro couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen, as every time he had that gut feeling, something always happened. He rested for an hour, before he heard an alarm go off. Against better judgement, he decided to grab a high caliber sidearm from it and stowed it in his jacket, along with three extreme density magazines for it, in addition to his swords. As he ran to the bridge of the Elysion, he heard shouts and two high pitched screams, both distinctly different. He doubled his pace and rushed towards the door.

He was not expecting to find what he saw in the bridge.

* * *

So, tell me what you guys think of the story so far, and leave a review! Also, I don't do next chapter previews, unless I get a specific request for one, so if you want, you must ask!


	4. Chapter 4

_Four hours ago, Freyja and Hayate's "Usual Spot"_

Freyja fidgeted nervously as she sat in the cafe's deck area, wondering if Hayate would come. She had knowingly come early, but it was almost the time that they agreed on in the morning, and he hadn't showed up yet.

"He wouldn't ditch me, would he?" She pondered nervously.

No sooner did she finish that thought, the unexpected but familiar sound of a fighter landing broke her train of thought, in fact startling her and the cafe's patrons, both with the sudden loud sound and the fact that a fighter in its half fighter, half battroid mode had landed less than ten feet from the cafe deck area. The cafe deck area was elevated about fifteen feet off the ground, though this height was somewhat dwarfed by the Siegfried. As Freyja turned toward the Siegfried, she was surprised at how close it was to the deck area of the cafe. She couldn't help but gawk as the fighter deployed its left arm to the cockpit to reveal a figure wearing a flight suit with the familiar teal colors that matched the wing trim of his fighter. She smiled as the fighter's arm hovered slightly above the rail of the cafe deck and the pilot jumped down. One thing that Freyja couldn't help but notice was that the pilot was wearing a helmet. She smiled at his entrance but couldn't help the feeling that he might be showing off.

"You sure know how to make an entrance, don't you, Hayate?" Freyja laughed softly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, but the repairs took a little longer than I thought it would, and so I didn't really think you'd mind if i showed up like this." Hayate responded as he took off his helmet and placed it on the table that Freyja was sitting at.

"I don't, but the owners might..." Freyja mused as she noticed the mixture of looks she and Hayate were receiving, a few being annoyed or upset, but the majority being some form of shock. A few were smirking at the notion of the singer's boyfriend being a pilot.

"Well, that aside, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Hayate asked, remembering the way Freyja was acting in the morning.

"Oh," Freyja sputters, forgetting that she told him that earlier in the day, "Umm... I, uh,"

She was promptly cut off by Hayate, who wrapped an arm around her waist, causing her to yelp softly, as he wrapped the other around the middle of her back, which placed her head slightly angled upwards towards his head. She felt her cheeks flush at the sudden contact, and yet, she couldn't bring herself to push him away.

Her eyes bulged when she heard him softly say in her ear, "I hope this isn't you worrying about if I look at you as just as a friend,," he squeezed her tighter "because I, love you, not just as a friend, but as the woman that I've chosen to spend the rest of my life with." Freyja, at this point, was both extremely happy and extremely confused, as expressed by her rune glowing brightly enough for the nearby cafe patrons to see.

"Ha-Hayate, wh-where did that come from?" Freyja softly says, her voice shaky and her eyes wider than he'd ever seen them.

He sighs for a brief moment, before pulling away just enough for Freyja to get a direct look at his face, which was unexpectedly serious, much to the latter's surprise.

"Freyja, I'm not nearly as clueless as you and the rest of Delta Platoon thinks." He says matter-of-factly, stunning her. Before she can respond, he continues on. "I was well aware of the way you and Mirage felt about me since the more recent incident on Voldor. I just didn't want to act on it until I could give you both a straight answer, without any possibility of regretting it. Having said that, I'm certain of this much," as he pulls her close enough for her to gaze into his unwavering, azure eyes, "I want this to be clear, to you of all people."

"I love you, Freyja, and no other girl in this universe will change that."

Freyja felt her heart both flutter and skip a beat, as evidenced by her rune glowing even brighter. She took a moment to process all the information she just absorbed. She smiled and spoke, all doubt erased from her mind, "I love you too, Hayate." What she did next shocked him, everyone in the area, but not herself. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Hayate was taken aback for a brief moment before he leaned in and pressed her tightly against his body, lifting her off the ground ever so slightly.

When they finally released from each other grasps' they looked into the other's eyes and smiled. For a moment, they felt like they were the only ones in the world. Until someone in the cafe decided to cough loudly. They both tensed up, though in different ways. Hayate, sometime during the kiss, let his hands wander down to Freyja's waist, inadvertently squeezed her waist, causing her to yelp and put Hayate in a surprisingly strong neck hold, causing the latter gasp for air before Freyja realized she was choking him. She released him shortly after, and they both separated to a less intimate distance.

Hayate, somewhat annoyed by this, took Freyja by the hand and led her to the Siegfried's arm, which was still next to the cafe deck's rail. Freyja, knowing what Hayate was doing, hopped over the rail and onto the fighter's hand, followed by Hayate, who remotely activated the fighter's proximity unlock feature to open the cockpit. He hopped in the pilot's seat, followed by Freyja, who decided to ignore social norms and hopped in Hayate's lap, much to the shock and dismay of the cafe patrons. They took off, leaving the cafe patrons in a state of awe, impression, and shock.

When they came back to the Elysion, Hayate docked his Siegfried and Freyja followed him to his quarters, where they opted to take a nap together, enjoying each other's presence for a few hours.

* * *

 _The present, the Elysion's bridge._

Shiro took in the scene with a mix of annoyance and a hint of surprise.

On the lower level of the bridge, or a stage, as it appeared, was Makina the pink-haired mechanic, a green haired girl with pointed ears, a red haired woman wearing a fedora, and most noticeably, a woman with long, flowing violet hair. He would have gazed at the latter most woman had it not been for the other three girls and the situation they found themselves in. The pink haired mechanic had what appeared to be a pink and black fish tail wedged between her breasts and was crying out for Reina, presumably her green haired friend, to help get it out. The problem was, Reina, wasn't actually helping, and Makina was squirming on the floor in what appeared to be a mix of embarrassment and unwanted arousal. Her green haired friend was standing next to her with a rather devious smirk on her face. Shiro looked at the other two girls who weren't helping and saw that while they wanted to help, the red haired woman either didn't know how to, or she didn't want to make it any more awkward than it already was. The violet haired woman looked like she was in shock at the whole situation.

Shiro sighed before walking down the stairs toward the squirming mechanic, ignoring the inquiring looks of the red haired woman and the violet haired woman. He walked over to Makina, and knelt down to her, holding her shoulders still, telling her, "Hold still." in a firm tone of voice. She did so, mostly, although she couldn't completely, as the fish tail was still squirming about in her cleavage. Shiro grimaced for a second, before returning to his normal expression as he grabbed the fish tail without touching Makina in a way that could be considered sexual harassment. As soon as he pulled the fish tail out, it turned to face him, and Shiro saw that it had eyes and a small mouth, reminiscent of a small face. A memory flashed in his mind, and instinctively, he released it, backing away before pulling out his sidearm from his jacket pocket and leveling it at the creature.

He was immediately stopped by the red haired woman, who yelled, "Wait! It's just a mercat!"

The green haired girl joined in, stating, "One of ours, to be exact."

Realizing that the mercat, as they called it, was harmless, despite its resemblance to certain beings that he encountered. He holstered his weapon quickly before grimacing at the mercat once more.

He turned towards the red haired woman, saying, "Please excuse my actions, I did not realize this creature was both harmless and different from a similar being that I've encountered before."

"That's okay, I guess. My name's Kaname Buccaneer. I'm Walkure's official team manager. It's nice to meet you, Shiro Okumura."

"You already know me? I don't believe we've met before."

"We haven't, but I was part of the group that scouted you out. Back there's Reina, the other one that scouted you out." She motioned towards the green haired girl who was holding the mercat. "She's our information specialist."

"I've already met your friend, Makina, she's a mechanic, yes?"

"That's correct, and here's Mikumo Guynemer, she's Walkure's lead singer. There's another girl, Freyja Wion, but she isn't here yet."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Shiro says as he looks around. "If you know about me already, then do you know who I'm assigned to protect? I assume that, since all of you are a part of the Tactical Sound Unit, Walkure, that you all have a high enough security clearance to hear all of this?"

"How do you know that we are a Tactical Sound Unit?" Kaname asks, certain that she didn't reveal that to him at least.

Shiro levels his gaze at Kaname, who is somewhat taken aback by his calm, almost emotionless demeanor, as he states, "Please don't insult my intelligence, Miss Buccaneer, I may be new and unfamiliar with the manners and beings of this planet, but I am most certainly not on the intellectual level of the average NUNS grunt. I believe that I am correct in my thoughts that a group of girls with the ability to relieve others of a dangerous level of Var Syndrome and the support of a skilled group of pilots is no ordinary girl group. Especially given the fact that we are meeting on the bridge of a Macross-class warship."

Kaname, realizing how she must've sounded, quickly apologizes. Shiro dismisses the apology, describing how he didn't intend to bash on her, only to prove himself. Makina and Reina proceed to ask him questions about the swords sheathed on his back, although the topic of the questions were either something he couldn't answer, or preferred not to. Before they can continue further, however, the sound of the bridge doors opening draws their attention as Captain Ernest and Captain Arad walk in, followed by a blue-haired individual who looks a little young to be a pilot, and a girl with voluminous peach hair. Shiro mentally assumed this was Freyja, as there would be no other reason for a girl like this to even be on the bridge. There was already a man with brown skin and a husky figure, and most noticeably, gills on his neck. Captain Ernest calls everyone on the stage up to the upper levels of the bridge where his seat is.

"Well everyone," Ernest states, "assuming you haven't met him already," gesturing towards Shiro, "this is our new operative, Shiro Okumura, and he is the newest member of Delta Platoon, although he isn't a pilot."

"I believe we should get the introductions out of the way before we discuss other things, Captain." Shiro notes.

"Right. This," as he gestures towards the blue haired individual, "is Second Lieutenant Hayate Immelman. Over here," he gestures towards the peach-haired girl, "is Freyja Wion. Lastly, this is Second Lieutenant Chuck Mustang." He gestures towards the man with gills on his neck.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Shiro glances at the faces surrounding him. "I suppose this would be a good time to ask me important questions."

"Why are you specifically a part of Delta Platoon if you barely have any flight experience?" Hayate asks.

"Captain Johnson has yet to inform me of the specifics, but I know that I was hired because of my specialization in a variety of combat skills."

"What combat skills do you specialize in?" Mirage asks, somewhat skeptical about Shiro's statement.

"Most kinds of close quarter combat, close to mid range firearms combat, and some heavy weapons." Shiro responds, his expression a blank.

Chuck whistles before saying, "That's impressive, but do you have any aerial combat skills?"

"Unfortunately, I have none of the sort, but that was a part of the terms I agreed to with the Captain: I am supposed to receive enough flight training to meet the standards the Captain set. In return, I am supposed to train all members of Delta Platoon to be sufficiently proficient in close quarters combat should the need arise for any of you to engage an enemy on those terms." Shiro explains.

"Well," Captain Arad says, "your flight instructor will most likely be Mirage, seeing as how she has experience training new pilots." as he glances at Hayate and Mirage.

"Understood. In the mean time, please explain who the High Value Individual that I'm supposed to protect is, as I believe that is my primary objective, is it not?" Shiro asks.

"That would be Mikumo Guynemer, the lead singer of Walkure. I understand that you've already met her?" Ernest asks, glancing at Shiro.

Shiro rubs the back his head before replying, "Well, I met Ms. Guynemer, but we didn't exactly have the time to get well acquainted due to certain unforeseen circumstances."

"In that case," Ernest says as matter-of-factly as he could, "you two should spend the majority of tomorrow to get to know each other, seeing as how you'll constantly be around her the majority of the time from now on."

"I don't have any objections to this, but is there a possibility that you could explain to me what so special about Ms. Guynemer that someone would attempt a coup d'etat just to possess her?" Shiro asks, the lack of information in this area bothering him greatly.

"I would greatly appreciate it if I wasn't talked about like I'm not in the room." Mikumo states, gathering the attention of the individuals on the bridge.

Shiro briefly nods before apologizing, "I apologize for that, Ms. Guy-"

"Please, call me Mikumo, I find it a little too formal to be addressed like that."

"Right, Mikumo, what makes you so much more special than the other members of Walkure that NUNS would be willing to openly attack us instead of negotiating for you?"

"I have one request before I reveal that to you."

"...and that is?"

"Please take everything I say seriously, even though I understand it may be a little hard to believe."

"Of course. I've seen and heard some things that others would be hard-pressed to believe, so I'll trust what you say."

"Okay, I guess I should start from the beginning, as some things wouldn't make sense if I just started from the beginning of the Windermerean War."

She then proceeded to explain the history of Windermere's initial fight for independence, and the events that transpired during the closing stages of the conflict, including the details of Hayate's father being forced to take the fall for NUNs' use of a dimensional warhead. She then explained how she was groomed to be the perfect unconventional weapon of Lady M, and how Lord Roid of Windermere attempted to use her to seize control of the galaxy. Which led to the events of late. Throughout the whole explanation, Shiro's expression didn't change, save for when she mentioned that during her time under Roid's control, she was controlling the minds of millions of people throughout the galaxy, or so everyone assumed. Captain Ernest noted Shiro's reaction, making a note to question him later.

After she finished her explanation, everyone returned to their respective quarters, except for Captain Ernest, Mikumo, and Shiro.

"Mikumo, are you finding your quarters suitable?" Ernest asks, needing to confirm protocols.

"Yes, I have no problems."

"Good. Then, if you don't mind, I would like Shiro to be posted in or near your quarters. Given that we have yet to vacate the quarters adjacent to yours, I think it would preferable to have Shiro in close proximity versus him having to travel across the ship to you should an event occur."

"Does it not concern that Shiro might try something if he and I are alone in my quarters?" Mikumo asks, somewhat suspicious about the placement.

"I assure you," Shiro states, "I will not try anything that could bring harm on you in any way, shape or form. I understand if you don't quite trust me as a person yet, but please trust me as your bodyguard, Mikumo." His face was stern, but at the same time, there was concern in his expression.

Mikumo, surprised by the sudden emotion in the otherwise calm and reserved Shiro, couldn't help but allow it. When they reached Mikumo's quarters, Mikumo blushed visibly, thinking about where Shiro would sleep, considering the possibility of him sleeping with her in her bed, but before her mind could overload at the mere thought, Shiro, sensing her embarrassment, decided he would sleep against the side of her bed, facing the door and not Mikumo's sleeping figure. Given that the both were considerably exhausted, they didn't argue and they quickly fell asleep, unaware of the events that were set to take place tomorrow.

* * *

Alright guys, sorry about this chapter being so long and a little late, but I couldn't find a spot to leave off of without being abrupt, so please excuse that. Also, the chapters are most likely going to get longer, due to me trying to fit in more development where it belongs. I apologize if this isn't something you want to deal with. Anyways, please review, and leave likes if you want to.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! As I said last chapter, these chapters are more likely to be more spaced out, and are more likely to be noticeably longer than the previous chapters. Expect more chapters like the previous chapter. Anyway, read and review!

* * *

Mikumo woke to the sound of distant explosions, although it would probably be more accurate to say that the vibrations of the Elysion's hull woke her up. When she sat up, she noticed that Shiro was readying his weapons, more precisely, his sidearm was in his hand, and one of his swords in the other. Mikumo gazed at the blade in Shiro's hand. It was fairly long, Mikumo guessed it was around the length of his arm, and it was straight, its shape representing one side of the Aerial Knights' swords. It also glowed faintly, light blue emanating from the entire blade. Shiro looks over to Mikumo's bed, noticing that she was already awake.

"Good, you're already awake." He says, his voice low and serious.

"Doubt anyone could sleep through all this. What's going on?" Mikumo asks, the distant explosions getting slowly but noticeably closer.

"I haven't the slightest clue, I didn't think anyone would come for you so soon." His eyes narrow, as if focusing on the sounds outside. "You should get changed, preferably something that you wouldn't mind running in. I think trouble is much closer than we think."

Mikumo moves but hesitates. She glances at Shiro, uncertainty clouding her thoughts.

"What's wrong? You don't have clothes?" He asks, not noticing her body fidgeting under her blankets.

"Umm, might I preserve my modesty, especially since I don't think you're leaving this room?" She asks, somewhat annoyed by his lack of attention towards her feminine needs.

He glances at her before completely turning his head the other way before saying, "I can't, but if I haven't shown that I intended to make any sort of move towards you while you were sleeping, I certainly don't understand why you can't trust me right now."

Finding that once again, she couldn't argue with him, she quickly went over to the closet that was provided for her, she went through the rack, looking for something that she would be comfortable in, all the while trying to fulfill Shiro's requests for her attire. She found a black mid sleeve shirt that fit her snugly, and found black shorts that came around her mid thighs. Instead of getting her regular white low heels, she opted for brown ankle boots, as they were the most optimal for running. She grabbed a pair of mid thigh high socks to cover her legs for the most part.

Keeping her voice low, she says, "I'm ready. What's our first move?"

"I've tried to reach the bridge, but communications are too hazy to understand anything. I think our visitors have some sort of jamming devices in place. Normally, what I'd do is take you to a more secure location." He hesitates before continuing.

"But?" Mikumo asks, predicting the opener to the potential problem.

"That normally involves a considerable amount of risk, and while I'm certain that you can handle yourself to an extent, there's too much at stake for me to risk that. You're too important to let you fall into enemy hands."

Mikumo considers his words before asking him, "Why do you care about me so much?"

Her question takes him off guard, as his head, which normally only turned enough to see a person in his peripherals, he turns to face her, his face both surprised and serious.

"Well, you're obviously not an ordinary important person-"

"What does that even mean?"

He sighs before holstering his sidearm and sheathing the sword in his hand.

"You're not the first person I've been hired to protect, but unlike my other clients, who were generally the children of wealthy businessmen or politicians, you're capable of many things, things that I never thought were possible. Things that I have no doubt someone with a twisted mind would force you to do. So if you're asking why I'm so intent on seeing your safety, it's because: A. I don't want the whole universe to come to an end because I got sloppy and some greedy dirt-bag got a hold of you and figured out how to abuse you, B. I take my contracts very seriously, and your case is no different, in fact, you're even more important, and C.-" He pauses, uncertain of how to continue. Before he can continue, there is the sound of voices very close to the walls and the door to her room. The voices are low enough that a normal person wouldn't have been able to hear them, but Mikumo, having all of her five senses enhanced, notices them instantly. What surprises her is that Shiro seems to have heard them too. "These walls are two inch thick metal, how did he hear them?" She thinks to herself. Before she can finish her thoughts, Shiro's hand gently but firmly pushes her towards the back of the room. He softly tells her the signal he'd use when she was clear to follow him. She notices him standing near the door, his body leaning flat against the nearby wall.

"He's well-armed, but can he really-" She thinks.

Her thoughts were cut off by a loud popping sound. The door opens, revealing a figure wearing a black and red combat uniform who was also carrying a rifle. All in one fluid motion, Shiro grabs the man by the arm, pushes him against the wall, twists the gun out of his hands, and smashes his head into the wall. Mikumo didn't have time to ponder the identities of these men, as moments after, Shiro rushes out the door. The sounds of brief melee combat ensue, followed by the sounds of guns dropping to the ground. A shot goes off, but it sounds suppressed, as if the barrel of the gun was forced into someone's body. There is a brief groan, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. There are grunts of various tones, followed by the sounds of weapons hitting the floor. Mikumo holds her breath, her mind conflicted over whether to be worried for Shiro or to be worried for herself. Against better judgement, she moves toward the door in an attempt to better understand the situation. She didn't make it far. Right as she neared the door, someone grabs her from her right side and pins her to the wall. She feels one of her attacker's hand clasp around her neck, causing her to gasp for air. The attacker's other hand pins one of her wrists to the wall, causing her resistance to wain further. In a burst of adrenaline, she kicks her attacker in the stomach, causing his grasp on her to fade, if ever so briefly. She capitalizes on this moment, using her free hand to rip his arm away from her neck and using all of her strength, she punches him square in the chest, sending him staggering away. Just as she moves to knock him unconscious, a gun sent from beyond her field of vision smashes into his head, his body dropping to the ground. She looks over to see Shiro, with at least ten bodies on the ground behind him. He picks up the gun and places it in his jacket before looking at Mikumo, his face hard.

"I thought I told you to move only when I gave the signal." His voice is stern, and if Mikumo didn't know any better, she'd think he was being condescending.

Mikumo, upset by his tone, responds, "How was I supposed to see a hand signal if you were outside and I was inside?"

"I would have said something to tell you that it was safe to move. I wouldn't just leave you guessing, Mikumo. I need you to trust me, otherwise I can't do my job without having to worry about you."

"Why, would you get paid less if I'm harmed in any way?" Mikumo blurts, before she could stop herself.

Shiro visibly stiffens before glaring at her, causing Mikumo to flinch at the sudden anger coming from her otherwise calm guardian. He quickly regains his composure before responding, "Much as I'd love to argue that I'm above the common mercenary, the mission comes first, and you are still in serious danger. If these guys have managed to get this close to you, then there's no telling what the status of the rest of the ship is. We need to find Captain Ernest or Arad, they'll know what's going on, or at least an idea of what's happening right now."

"I'm pretty sure we're being attacked right now." Mikumo notes without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"That's not what I mean, I mean are we simply being boarded, or is NUNS conducting a full scale assault on this location? I need more information, and arguing with you isn't helping at all. As much as I'd rather have you like me as opposed to hating me, your safety comes first, above all else. So please bear with me, if not for yourself, then for your friends. I'm sure they're worried about you."

At that moment, Shiro's comm crackled to life, the sounds of explosions and high-pitched whirring of engines in the background creating most of the audio for a few seconds before being somewhat replaced by Hayate's voice.

"Hey, Shiro! Hey! Can you hear me?!" Hayate's voice sounds distracted, although Shiro honestly couldn't blame him.

"Hayate, this is Shiro, I hear you, go ahead."

"Is Mikumo safe?! We couldn't stop all of them from breaking our defenses and breaching the hull! Most of them didn't get in, but a platoon-sized element managed to slip past us.!"

"She's safe, for now at least. We ran into a large squad of hostiles. Who are we up against?" Shiro asks, keeping a level head, much to Mikumo's amazement.

"It looks like a bunch of pirates, but they have military-grade hardware!"

"How did they manage to get enough firepower to break through a Macross-class warship's defense and supplementary defense squadrons?" Shiro asks, sounding more annoyed than bothered.

"Your guess is as good as mine, but that doesn't matter too much right now. It's pretty obvious that they don't know how to use it to its full potential, but they caught us off guard."

"Who's left besides our trespassers?" Shiro asks, guessing what Hayate was about to explain.

Hayate pauses, confirming one of Shiro's suspicions "There are six Destroids and two platoons worth of VF-171s , which normally wouldn't be a problem, except that in the initial attack, they knocked out the Elysion's primary scanner arrays, so we don't have a visual on their location, which is constantly changing due to the fact that they're moving after a few shots at a time. On top of that, their VF-171s are loaded with cluster missile launchers, so we can't get close to the Destroids we _DO_ manage to locate." An explosion briefly interrupts the conversation.

"Are the ship's defensive batteries still operational?"

"Yeah, they're still firing at what they can hit. I haven't seen the main guns fire, but that's probably because most of our attackers aren't large enough for the beam cannons to hit."

"Do you know the status of the bridge or the the other members of Walkure?" Shiro asks, more than ready to move.

"I can't get in touch with the bridge, although in the passes I managed to fly by, the bridge seems intact, and there aren't any signs of fighting, as for the members of Walkure, I'm almost certain that they're on the bridge, if not, they're in their safe room in the center of the ship."

"We were in Mikumo's room when our guests made their entrance, so we're pretty close to the bridge. We'll be heading there first. If anything significant comes up, contact me through my comm, chances are the comms array was also hit in the initial attack."

"Roger that. We've located two of the six Destroids, I leave the safety of Mikumo and Walkure to you."

"Got it. I leave the skies to you."

* * *

With that, Shiro and Mikumo ran as much as Mikumo could towards the bridge. However, Shiro took Mikumo for a detour, as he headed for his quarters, where his equipment was. Mikumo became confused as to why they were getting sidetracked from their current objective.

"What are we doing here? I thought we were going to head for the bridge?"

"We were, but I've been thinking about why we can't contact the bridge while we were on our way." Shiro responds as he walks toward the strange box, which had circuit-like lines that faintly glowed orange all over it.

"And?" Mikumo asks, not following his thought process.

"What if the bridge was already taken over by the pirates?" Shiro asks, his tone more serious than earlier.

"It would explain things, but what can we do?" Mikumo asks, uncertain as to where he is going with this.

Shiro ponders as he presses the box's smooth and featureless surface. The box's surface splits open, revealing various firearms, ranging from two large guns that had belts of ammo to a long rifle with an almost disproportionately large scope mounted. Shiro takes none of these, opting for another sidearm that was fairly large for a sidearm. Mikumo realizes that the sidearm is identical to the one Shiro was holding when she woke up. He takes his swords off his back and goes to the back of the box. A rack of swords silently appears, the blades suspended in mid-air by an unseen force. All of the swords look almost identical in shape, save for size and width of the blades. The two that Shiro took off his back seem to be in between two pairs of swords on the rack. One pair is noticeably wider and longer, with a rounded edge instead of a straight edge like the other two pairs of swords. The other pair is slightly shorter, but is considerably thinner, most likely for more maneuverability and ease of access, Mikumo reasons. Shiro grabs this pair of swords, but before he places them on his back, he takes his loose, grey jacket off and replaces it with a form fitting black one that is visibly padded and has a black metallic plate on the back. He takes his sidearms and places them at his belt, one on each side, with a clicking sound they snap onto his belt. He then grabs two small packs with belts on them and attaches them to his thighs. Finally, he places the swords on his back, both of them attaching to the metal plate on his back with a low hum. He tosses something to Mikumo, who catches it with curiosity.

"It's a comm, I assume you know how to use it?"

She nods before placing it in her ear.

"If you're gonna go out on your own, at least let me know so I can chase you down," He says, without the slightest hint of humor in his voice.

She shoots him a look that's half a glare and half a pout.

He suppresses a smile.

"Are you ready, Mikumo?"

"What's our plan?"

"Given that I'm under orders to not leave you alone whenever possible, you're coming with me to the bridge, but under no circumstances are you to engage those guys directly, alright?"

"What am I supposed to do then? Watch you like some damsel in distress?" She responds, still not willing to bet treated like one.

"I would prefer if you didn't needlessly endanger yourself. Especially more so given the high probability that the Captain and his officers are being taken hostage."

"The Captain can handle himself."

"His officers can't though, and I've talked to him enough to know that he wouldn't act in such a way that might get them killed, not if he can help it."

She sighs before saying, "Alright, I see your point, I won't do anything until it's clear, ok?"

"I appreciate that. We also don't know the statuses of the other members of Walkure, so we'll have to be careful."

With that discussion over, they headed straight to the bridge, encountering no resistance whatsoever. It seemed, to Shiro, that the pirates/bounty hunters split into two groups, one take the bridge, obviously, and one to kidnap Mikumo, which also obviously, failed. As they neared the bridge, the two saw that the door was bent inwards, leaving a sizable gap in the middle. Shiro pulls a small datapad from his pocket and begins tapping it. As Mikumo leans in, she sees a layout of the bridge.

Curious, she asks, "What's this for?"

He doesn't look up as he responds. "I'd like to figure a way out for us to get in without using the front door, but other than this maintenance hallway that connects the bridge to a server room, I don't see another way in. Not to mention, the door from the server room to the bridge is pretty open, no doubt anyone that doesn't have their ears jammed full of earwax will hear us coming through that door. If we had another trained member of security, we might be able to-"

His thoughts were cut off by the sounds of combat coming through the two person sized gap in the door leading to the bridge.

"Goddammit, is she doing what I specifically told her to NOT do?" Shiro's thoughts raced as he rushed through the gap, drawing one of his swords as he did so.

The moment he arrived inside the upper level of the bridge and saw that there was no one, he sprinted down to the stage, only to see four pirates on the ground unconscious. His attention quickly turned to Mikumo in a brawl with one of the pirates' leaders, identifiable by the upside down military rank on his helmet. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the members of Walkure and the bridge crew, all tied up and muffled/gagged, save for Captain Ernest, who is slumped against the wall, bleeding. He doesn't relax, knowing that he'd have to save Mikumo quickly in order to save Ernest. Another pirate appears behind Mikumo, and before she can react, he strikes her in the back of the head. She falls to the ground, not unconscious, but as she tries to back away from the two, the one she was fighting with originally shoots her in the left leg, causing her to cry out in pain. Before they can do anything else, Shiro, with all his strength, pushes off his leg, leaping towards the two. He doesn't hold back. He lands in front of the one with the gun, and in one motion, kicks the man square in the chest so hard his helmet visor cracks, sending the man flying into the wall with a smack. Seconds after, he slices the other man's rifle before he can fire, subsequently hitting him in the head with the flat side of his sword, incapacitating him.

Seeing as how the others were incapacitated, he places his sword on his back and rushes over to Mikumo, who is in pain. He gently but firmly pushes her leg flat on the ground before ripping off part of her sock to treat her wound. He notes that the bullet didn't go all the way through her leg. He takes some gauze and a small bottle out of his chest pocket, squeezing some of the bottle's contents on her wound. She must have been trained, at the very least, to not move when being treated for serious injuries, because her shoulders tense and she lets out a sharp cry of pain, but doesn't move her leg. After a few seconds, he presses a portion of the gauze tight over her wound, saving the rest for the Ernest, if he could be treated. He then rips off her left sleeve, tearing it down the middle on one side to wrap around her leg. He pulls it tight, causing her to yelp again, although she seemed to be in less pain.

"We're going to have to get his out later, but we need to attend to Captain Ernest very soon. Can you hang on for a while?"

She nods, visibly strained from the ordeal, before leaning against him.

Satisfied with her not being in any imminent danger, he picks her up, careful not to hurt her, and carries her over to where the members of Walkure and the bridge crew are tied up. They look at him with mixed expressions. Freyja, Makina, and Reina look noticeably frightened, although Shiro couldn't discern if it was him or their captors. Kaname and the bridge crew look at him with an understanding but nervous expression. Ignoring their looks, he gently sets Mikumo down and walks over to Kaname and cuts her loose. She takes off the tape that covered her mouth before speaking.

"I'll get the others loose. See if you can treat the Captain." He nods, handing her a knife from his back holster before walking over to the Captain.

"How bad are his injuries?"

"He was shot in the lower right abdomen, normally a person would be dead by now, but since he's Zentradi, he's been able to last longer, but I don't want to push the limits of his survival." She responds as she cuts Freyja and Reina loose. Reina runs over to a datapad on the ground, and Freyja walks up to Shiro, her face fearful but determined.

"Do you need anything, Shiro?" She asks, her voice a little shaky.

He looks at her before focusing back on Ernest's unmoving body. He notices that he is still breathing, but is labored. "If you know where the first aid kit, please get it. I don't think I can treat the Captain with what I've got left."

She nods before running up the stairs that lead to the upper level of the bridge.

"Hey, Kaname?"

"Yes?"

He looks at the unconscious bodies of the pirates/bounty hunter. "Can you tie up those guys, it would be bad if they woke up, much less got away. Unless you'd prefer to treat the Captain."

She glances between the pirates and Ernest's body. "I'll take care of the Captain, please take care of them."

He suddenly snaps to attention, his head swiveling towards the sound of a gun cocking. The pirate that Shiro kicked into a wall levels a handgun at Shiro and fires. A second sound rings out, just moments after the gunshot. The result was shocking to everyone on the bridge. The pirate leader suddenly found himself looking at Shiro, who was visibly unharmed and had a sword in his hand that wasn't there previously, before noticing that there was a hole right next to his head. Shiro's expression, while still remaining calm, made it clear that the next attempt the man made on anyone's life would cost him dearly. The others couldn't do anything but gape at what had just happened, or what they thought had happened. Mikumo, in spite of her enhanced senses, could barely grasp what had just happened, although she was fairly certain of one thing: her bodyguard was most certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Shiro spins his sword in his hand once before sliding it onto his back, all in one fluid motion. He then walks over to the man, taking a pair of restraints that the man had on him, and restrains his arms behind his back. The pirate leader doesn't resist. When he was satisfied, Shiro drags the man to general vicinity of the other pirates, throws all of their weapons in a pile and begins tying them up, using the restraints they all had on their persons. A few regain consciousness and begin to struggle, but a simultaneous look from Shiro and their leader strongly suggests that they stop resisting.

After he was certain they wouldn't or couldn't attempt anything, Shiro turns around and looks toward the sound of running. Freyja comes back with a massive first aid kit in her arms, visibly exhausted. She proceeds to set it next to Kaname, who has yet to stop Ernest's bleeding, although it has slowed considerably. Shiro walks over to Kaname, who asks Shiro if he can re-position Ernest's body so she can properly tend to his wounds. Shiro nods, and proceeds to grab Ernest's shoulders, ready to move him. The whole scene, had it not been for the fact that Ernest was seriously wounded, would have been comical, as Shiro, despite being fairly tall, was overshadowed by Ernest three times over. Despite their obvious difference in size, Shiro was able to move Ernest's unconscious figure into a lying position without dropping him, although the action visibly strained Shiro. After Kaname treats Ernest to the best of her abilities, which Shiro mentally noted, were actually superior to his. Shiro then taps his comm piece, attempting to contact Hayate or Arad, with no success. The others try to contact the members of Delta Platoon, with no luck. He tries again, with the same results before looking at Reina.

"Hey Reina?"

"Yes?"

"You are an electronics and information specialist, correct?" His mind is a whirlwind of thoughts, although his expression reveals none of this.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"I need to know if it's possible for someone to set up a communications jammer for a particular area, say the bridge, for example."

She responds by typing on her datapad for a few minutes before responding, "It's down, we should be able to communicate with the rest of the ship and the pilots outside now."

Shiro had met considerably proficient electronic warfare specialists in his lifetime, but he had to admit, Reina easily outclassed all of them by a long shot. He can't resist a smile as he replies, "Well, that didn't take you long at all."

"Of course it didn't, who do you think I am?" She responds, smiling back.

"Umm guys?" Freyja's voice turns everyone's attention to the glass window of the bridge, surprising everyone except for Shiro and Mikumo.

"I believe there's supposed to be some sort of battle going on right now, unless I'm mistaken." The purple-haired member of the bridge crew states blankly.

"There is, we can hear it, but for some reason we can't see it from the bridge." Mikumo says, wincing as she shifts her body to look more clearly through the bridge's window.

"Reina?" Kaname asks, "What's going on right now?"

Reina doesn't look up from her datapad as she replies, "I'm not sure, but-oh wait, here they are."

"Here what is?" Shiro asks, not enjoying the pronoun game that Reina wasn't aware that she was playing.

"Someone rigged multiple projectors all over the bridge, and they're projecting an image of the bridge on the window to make it look like nothing's happening."

"I'd ask if you've found them, but judging from your tone, I assume you've already found them?" Kaname asks.

"I've found all ten of them, but half of them are on the ceiling level or around that height, and unless someone's a really good shot with a rifle, we're gonna have to suspend ourselves from the top of the bridge."

"Can't we just destroy the bottom half of projectors?" Freyja asks, not wanting to have to hang herself from a large height.

"We could, but that would only reveal the bottom half of the bridge to the pilots outside. And given that they're probably flying above the Elysion itself, I doubt that they'll notice anything."

"We could just contact them and tell them our situation." Shiro states.

Everyone stares at him, mentally scolding themselves for forgetting that they restored communications and the whole plan would just make more work for them than what was necessary.

"I suppose we could." Kaname says, sighing.

With that, they called Arad and let him know what had happened on the bridge, and confirmed the safety of everyone on the bridge, except for Ernest, who had fortunately stabilized.

* * *

Sorry about the delay guys. Also, this chapter was even longer than the last one, and I have no clue when they'll stop getting longer, so I apologize for that. Also, even though I stated in an earlier chapter that I wouldn't give next chapter previews, this chapter didn't really explain enough, so the next chapter will cover how and when the attack started, as well as Hayate's POV, mostly. Anyways, as usual, read and review!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys! Sorry about the delay in posting, things have been happening and I did't have much time to finish this chapter. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

 _4 Hours Earlier_

* * *

Hayate woke up to the sound of his comm going off. Grunting, he looks at it, not concerned as to the reason why it was going off.

"Ugh, I swear I set this thing to silent, so why does the damn thing ring after I try to go to sleep?" He thinks to himself. Getting dressed in his regular uniform, he taps it, opening the channel to whoever was calling him.

"Alright, who's bright idea was it to call **_after_** I went to sleep?" He asks to the person on the other end of the call.

"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, Hayate, but we have a serious problem. Head down to the bridge. Now." A familiar female voice responds.

"Oh shit, sorry Mirage." Hayate makes a mental note to ask who was calling him before he says anything.

With that, he heads down to the bridge, where all of the pilots of Delta Platoon are gathered. Hayate looks at the holographic display next to the Ernest's chair and notices that there are lot more dots on it than he normally sees.

Arad walks up to him and says, "I see you've noticed our little predicament."

Hayate looks back at him, his face serious. "Is this what I think it is?"

"If you're thinking that what we have here is an air fleet's worth of fighters escorting enough Destroids to cripple the Elysion then yes." Arad responds without a hint of humor in his voice.

"If these guys wanted Mikumo alive, they'd probably have a shuttle in there somewhere, but from the looks of it, they're only here to attack. And they really mean it." Mirage muses, before pointing something out. "Wait, why is NUNS attacking us now, of all times? Also, why are they just hanging back outside their effective weapons range?"

"Those are good questions, but for now we should just focus on alerting the rest of our forces, and preparing for an attack." Ernest states, his voice showing no emotion whatsoever.

"Right. It looks I'll be commanding the platoons we have available. Chuck, Mirage, Hayate. You three suit up, it looks like we'll be in the air for a long time, so I'll make sure the techs equip all platoons with all the extra kits, alright?"

The three sound off simultaneous "Yes sirs" before running off to prepare for the fight.

"Should we notify the members of Walkure that we're about to engage?" Arad asks, almost forgetting about them.

"Notify them to get to the bridge, the safe room was damaged during the battle a couple weeks ago and we haven't gotten around to repairing it." Ernest responds, working out multiple scenarios in his head.

"Understood." Arad says, reaching for his comm. Before he can call any of the girls, an explosion rocks the bridge, sending shock waves through the ship. The holo display showing the positions of the enemy fighters and Destroids crackles and dissipates. Ernest and Arad look at the display, then at each other, dread filling them both.

"Did they just knock out-" Arad says.

"-the scanner array?" Ernest finishes his thought.

"Shit!" Arad runs off toward the hangar to ready up, forgetting about the calls he was supposed to make.

* * *

 _Meanwhile,_

Chuck and Mirage had just finished putting their suits when the explosions nearly knocked them off their feet. Hayate runs in, concern written all over his face.

"They're firing the Destroids' cannons while they're flying, and they managed to hit the Elysion's scanner array!"

"How do you know they hit the scanner array, and how do you know that they're firing in the air?!" Chuck and Mirage ask at the same time.

"The tracers came from the same elevation as the bridge, so unless there's ground as high as the bridge, they're shooting from the skies! Also, the shells hit somewhere close to the bridge, what's close to the bridge that's important besides the sound system for Walkure's broadcasts?!"

Chuck and Mirage look at each other, panic in their faces before they grab their helmets and run out the changing room. Hayate grabs the nearest mechanic he can find and tells him to ensure that all the other mechanics know to outfit all Siegfrieds with all of the possible extra kits before he runs off towards his Siegfried. Luckily, Hayate's request was already made redundant by Arad's order to outfit all fighters, and being what it was, Delta Platoon's fighters were already equipped and ready to fly. The three pilots hop into their respective fighters and take off. As they take off, they notice that they already had support from the nearest NUNS garrison. Nightmares in the standard khaki color scheme were seen flying around engaging other Nightmares, which they all notice have black and red color schemes as opposed to the others.

"Has anyone considered the possibility that we're not under attack by NUNS themselves, but by pirates with their technology?" Hayate asks, barely dodging a red and black fighter as it strafes him just as he takes off.

"All things considered, I strongly believe these are pirates, but most pirates I've encountered don't have the latest VFs, much less Destroids." Mirage responds, blowing off a red and black fighter's wing before dodging two more fighters behind her.

"But that raises the question of how these pirates got a hold of NUNS weapons and how they did so without them noticing." Chuck adds, coming up behind Mirage and shredding one of her aggressors' engines, the explosion forcing the other to wave off.

"Should we go easy on these guys?" Chuck asks, shooting a fighter in gerwalk mode so that its leg unit exploded, sending it plummeting toward the ocean.

"I don't think so. They certainly aren't going easy on us." Mirage responds, knocking out a fighter's engine, rolling to dodge a volley of missiles launched at her.

"I don't think we have the luxury of choosing, at least not right now." Hayate notes, shredding a fighter until it explodes before blasting another into bits as he proceeds to chase a Destroid. He manages to disable its cannons, but before he can destroy its missile launchers, four fighters charge him, forcing him to back off. In the resulting chaos, the damaged Destroid manages to get away, much to Hayate's dismay. As the fighters chase him, he manages to turn on them, destroying two of them before engaging the other two. As the other two gain on him, blue tracers clip one of the fighters' wings, sending it tumbling into the other fighter, causing them both to explode. Hayate looks on to see a fighter with a blueish green wing trim fly past him, blasting a pirate's fighter into bits before hearing Arad on the comm.

"Don't hold back against these guys! We confirmed that they're pirates, not soldiers of NUNS! At this point, it doesn't matter how they got the weapons, right now they're trying to breach the Elysion! The T-point barriers are holding back their attack, but it won't last long!" Arad yells through the sounds of machine guns and explosions.

Hayate and the other members of Delta Platoon turn around to see a series of explosions near the under arm of the Elysion, and on the ground, at least four Destroids with their guns pointed towards a part of the ship covered by a fading green circle. Despite the Elysion's anti-air defense batteries being online, it wasn't powerful enough to faze the Destroids, as any anti-air turrets that were in the vicinity of the area the Destroids were aiming for were either destroyed or in the process of being destroyed. Despite being hammered by multiple rounds from the garrison Nightmares, the Destroids didn't even bother to return fire to their attackers, leaving the task to nearby pirates. Hayate and the others rushed as fast as they could toward the positioned Destroids, hoping to stop or at least delay the damage the Destroids were inflicting on the Elysion. It would prove to be in vain, as the moment they got within striking range, the T-point barrier dissolved in a flash, and before anyone could react, two of the six Destroids fired their main cannons simultaneously. The resulting hole was large enough to be seen from their current position. Moments after, an aircraft with a geometric body zooms past Delta Platoon and the Destroids, its destination painfully obvious to everyone. Soon after, all of the Destroids, save for the one that Hayate partially disabled, scattered. Arad tasked each member of Delta Platoon, along with at least four garrison fighters, to find and destroy the Destroids, or at least, disable their primary cannons. Hayate, deciding to delay the order, instead flying as fast as he could towards the strange bodied aircraft making its way to the gaping hole in the Elysion's hull. Like their previous efforts to stop the hull breach, Hayate doesn't get very far, as he gets blocked by at least six pirates, forcing him to back off. Begrudgingly, he blasts most of the pirates out of the sky before chasing after one of the Destroids. He destroys a Destroid by hitting it from behind with the beam cannon mounted in his Siegfried, igniting its ammunition. Arad also manages to destroy another Destroid, hitting it so many times that the wings fell apart, sending the heavy ordnance carrier plummeting to the ground. Afterwards, the remaining Destroids re-form squadrons, being protected by a squadron sized element of Nightmares. The problem lie in the fact that the pirates weren't skilled enough to take on either Alpha Platoon or Beta Platoon, much less Delta Platoon, but because there were so many of them, the difference in skill was much less significant. Despite this, Delta Platoon managed to destroy a third Destroid, leaving just three on the field.

Sometime between the destruction of the second and third Destroid, all communication between fighters and the bridge was lost, and Hayate was contacted by Shiro, who mentioned that he had Mikumo in tow and that he was unable to contact the bridge. When Hayate reported this to Arad, the latter simply stated that they should focus on the mission, opting to trust their newest operative instead of worrying about how well he would perform, much to the former's displeasure. Hayate made fly-bys close enough to the bridge for him to be able to see through the orange tinted glass. He observed no signs of battle, although his instincts told him something bad had happened or was in the process of happening. For this reason, Hayate always picked his engagements near the bridge, for the sole purpose of staying close to the bridge. Somewhat inconsequentially, Mirage also stayed close to the bridge, as she was undeniably his wing-man (or wing-woman.) The battle raged on for a couple more hours before the pirates' numbers waned, and it seemed that the pirates would retreat. However, once it appeared that the pirates were being cornered, they all rushed toward the bridge, catching the garrison forces and the Elysion's forces off guard. Most of them would not make it to the bridge, as their over-aggressive push made them easy targets for the anti-air batteries. Four made it, and just as they leveled their weapons at the orange tinted glass, Hayate and Mirage pincered them, destroying two and destroying the other two's weapons before destroying their leg units, causing them to crash into the Elysion. It was at this point that Hayate received a call from the bridge. Expecting the worst, he spreads the call to everyone in Delta Platoon. To their surprise, they don't hear a pirate making demands on the line.

"Hayate? What's the situation outside?" The familiar voice of a bodyguard sounds through Delta Platoon's shared comm link.

"Shiro? We thought the bridge had been taken by pirates?" Hayate asks incredulously.

"It was." Shiro responds, completely nonchalant.

"So, are you being held hostage?" Mirage chimes in.

There was no response for a few minutes, and the group feared the worst, before the holo screen appeared, displaying a bundle of pirates tied together, and the bridge crew, in addition to Walkure were visibly unharmed, save for Ernest, who had yet to regain consciousness, and Mikumo, who was sitting up against a wall near Shiro, who was holding the camera, before he focused it back on Kaname, who was sitting next to Mikumo.

"Does that answer your question, Mirage?" Shiro's voice sounds again, no emotion in it whatsoever.

Mirage sighs before answering in a half sarcastic tone, "Yes, Shiro, it does."

"Good. I assume that you guys have taken care of the pirates?"

"We've either shot down or disable all of the pirates' fighters, but there are still three Destroids out there." Arad notes, concern in his voice.

As if summoned by being mentioned, three Destroids appear from the nearby cloud bank, diving head first towards the Elysion's bridge.

"Well, I think I found our missing Destroids, Captain." Chuck states, half joking, half serious.

"Then let's take care of them before they manage to do what I think their about to do." Arad says as all the nearby Siegfrieds and Nightmares open fire on the three charging Destroids.

The Destroids, being what they were, soaked up damage like nobody's business, and seemed to absorb bullets and rockets no problem. In spite of this, two were destroyed fairly close to the Elysion's bridge. However, the third one charged right through one of the Elysion's Siegfrieds, shattering the orange tinted glass with no trouble at all. It landed in firing position, and Hayate noticed that it was the one he managed to cripple, as it only had one cannon that was in one piece. However, it leveled its cannon at the members of Walkure, completely ignoring the bridge crew. Everyone gaped in shock for two reasons: behemoth aimed its massive cannon straight at them, and two: Shiro didn't look fazed at all, instead, he pulled out one of his sidearms and leveled it at the Destroid, no trace of emotion on his face. The next minute didn't go the way anyone thought it would, least of all, the pilot of the Destroid. An explosion shocks the bridge, and as the members of Delta Platoon looked through the smoke, the aftermath was anything but expected.

The Destroid that had leveled its cannon at Walkure lie in pieces on the floor of the bridge, warped by what appeared to be an internal explosion. The members of Walkure, while completely unharmed, were in total shock. They had expected to get blown to bits, along with their bodyguard. Instead, they sat there, in a mix of shock and awe of the man who had destroyed the Destroid in one shot, from a _handgun_. Shiro holstered his handgun the same way he sheathed his swords; efficiently and quickly, making no attempt to be flashy. He then turned around to look at the members of Walkure, who simply stared at him. He walked over to Mikumo first, making sure that she wasn't harmed any more than she already was. She simply looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise. Noticing her silent state, he gently nudges her shoulder. The act snaps Mikumo out of her shocked state, as she jumps at his touch, and in doing so, jerks her legs back, sending waves of pain through her leg. She cries out in pain before Shiro steadies her, checking her bandage to see if her wound had reopened. Surprisingly, he sees that it has already started to close up, the hole in her leg noticeably smaller than an hour or so ago. Mikumo's voice seemed to have snapped the others out of their trances, as they look around for a few seconds, as if they thought they were dreaming. Minutes later, a Siegfried bearing the Grim Reaper's insignia hovers in, landing right in front of the destroyed Destroid. Hayate hops out, not even deploying the arm to shorten the distance from the cockpit to the ground. He lands, looking around before he runs to Freyja, who after seeing him, starts running to him.

"Freyja!"

"Hayate!"

She practically jumps at him, and he catches her without hesitation. He squeezes her, uncertain of whether he was dreaming or not.

He didn't even realize that he was borderline strangling her until she rasps,"Hayate, its-its ok, - I'm fine."

He releases her enough to let her breathe, but he didn't let go of her, his blue eyes gazing at her emerald eyes. He pulls her in close, surprising her as his lips met hers. Freyja, while caught off guard, quickly relaxes into the kiss, passionately kissing him back. They stay like that for a couple minutes before one of the Walkure members clears her throat, either because it was getting awkward, or because there were more important things to attend to. They separate, begrudgingly, as Shiro walks up to Hayate, his face serious.

"Are there are more pirates that we should know about?"

Hayate looks between the destroyed Destroid and him before answering. "Unless there's another wave of pirates that we haven't detected, that-" he motions to the destroyed artillery unit "is the last of the pirates."

* * *

With that, the members of Walkure and Delta Platoon exchanged their respective stories of their experiences, with every member of Walkure confirming each others' suspicions about the superhuman feats that Shiro pulled off. Meanwhile, Arad managed the reorganization of Chaos' forces and Shiro, along with the ship's medical team, took and treated Ernest and Mikumo, respectively. Fortunately, because of the first aid that Shiro and Kaname performed on Ernest, the latter was expected to recover very quickly, two weeks, at most.

Mikumo, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. Her body's healing ability, while amazing, actually made things more difficult for the med team, as the wound on her leg had almost closed by the time they got her to an operating table. Because of this, they had to do it while she was somewhat conscious, as when they tried to do it while she was heavily sedated, her body healed even faster, to the point where the tools almost got stuck in her leg. Shiro insisted on being present for her operation, for a number of reasons. One of them was that the doctors operating on her both were sent by NUNS on the basis that the Elysion's medical team wouldn't be able to properly operate on her, which, to Shiro, was complete bullshit. Another reason was that said doctors were incredibly suspicious; while their credentials checked out, them personally, as people, were totally unlike any of the doctors he had ever met. Lastly, although he told no one this, he found himself worried intensely about Mikumo; he didn't know why, but he knew that something inside him was gnawing at him to not leave her side. Shiro was a man that trusted his instincts above all else, and he didn't think that now would be the right time to start trusting someone else's orders just because there bigger elements in play. And thus, Shiro watched in the operation room as the doctors operated on Mikumo. What bothered Shiro and the others was that, in their observations, the doctors seemed to care little about people which, as a doctor, was probably one of the more important qualities. A soft, barely audible cry of pain snaps Shiro out of his thoughts. His gaze snaps towards the operating table on which Mikumo is lying on. Her face is contorted in pain, which makes Shiro scan the various pieces of equipment in the room as a question runs through his head: "Shouldn't the doctors be using anesthesia to at least attempt to numb the pain?" After a minute or so of scanning the room, he doesn't see any type of medical equipment that resembles a vapor dispensing machine. In fact, he doesn't see any gas tanks anywhere. Not even an oxygen tank. His eyes dart towards the doctors and Mikumo and he quickly notices something that he should've notice before: Mikumo is strapped to the operating table. His mind working overtime, he looks at her exposed leg and sees that the wound is already patched up, a small bowl next to her leg containing a single round. He turns to look at Mikumo's face and realizes that she's looking right back at him. Except, instead of being in pain, her face displays only one thing: fear. She didn't say anything, Shiro realizes, because she couldn't. He focuses on the "doctors" and sees that out of the four present, three are filling injectors while the fourth one is attaching needles to them. Mikumo's body is visibly limp, and her head lists in Shiro's direction. He realizes that she meant to turn her head that way as the last action of her free will, that she wanted him to notice her. He turns, walking toward the fourth "doctor," who has his back turned to Shiro. He's about to insert the first needle into Mikumo, who can't even turn her head the other way. Without hesitation, he grabs the man's arms and wrenches the needle out of it, eyeing the substance in it suspiciously.

"What's in this needle, and why are you so intent on giving it to Mikumo that you have to strap her down like an animal?" Shiro asks, his tone both calm yet dangerous.

The man doesn't respond, his expression a mix between a glare and pained. The others look at Shiro, then back at each other. Shiro firmly pushes the two men on his side away from Mikumo, aware that the other two men opposite him are fiddling with the needles. One throws a needle at Shiro, who without even looking, catches it and sends it back at the man that threw it, unaware of the consequence that doing so would bring. The man makes a pained sound, his expression utterly horrified before his eyes start to bleed. He coughs up blood for a minute before slumping over on the floor. Shiro observes with a mix of horror and anger, although neither were visible on his face. The other three doctors look nervously at each other before glancing at Shiro, who picks up the needle that the doctor dropped when the former grabbed the latter's arm. He swirls the bluish green substance in the vial, uncertain as to what it was. A sound to his left draws his attention; one of the men has a needle in his hand, one filled with the same substance that Shiro has in his hand.

"If you dare throw that, you won't live to see the next minute." Shiro growls, his voice low.

The man looks at him before looking back at the first man that Shiro grabbed, most likely his superior, before throwing the needle. Shiro knew beforehand that the man's target wasn't him, and adjusted accordingly. He steps directly in front of the man's line of sight, catching the needle before giving the man who threw it a look that made certain he knew he was screwed. He throws the needle in his left hand at the man who threw it before throwing the one in his right at the man across the operating table, who drops the needle in his hand as he collapses to the floor. Looking back at Mikumo, he can see that the effects of whatever they were injecting or had injected into her were wearing off. She moves her head just enough for her to see him directly, as it's clear that any more would be too painful. He checks the table for any more needles. Finding none, he turns to Mikumo, smiling ever so slightly before putting his hand on her shoulder, his silent message understandable to her. She smiles back, and relaxes her tense body. Shiro turns as the last man charges him out of desperation with a knife in his hand. Shiro sighs before simply throwing his arm forward, not even bothering to draw his arm back for more power. The punch knocks the man back onto the floor, the knife skittering across the ground. The man tries to lunge for the knife, but Shiro kicks the knife away before grabbing the man by the neck and punching him in the gut. The man sputters and groans as Shiro pulls him up enough for him to make eye contact with the man.

He glares at the man before saying "Tell me everything. What you're forcibly injecting into her, and why. _Now_."

"And why should I tell you anything? You probably wouldn't understand half of what I'm saying." The man retorts.

"Because," Shiro says as he applies a little more pressure to the man's neck, "if you don't, I'll make it so that you'll _beg_ me to kill you."

The man's bravado disappears into thin air as he quickly realizes that there was no way he could outlast Shiro in any way. He gulps before relenting, "Ok, fine, just please, do me a favor, and I promise I'll tell you what I know."

Shiro releases the man, dropping him on the ground with a thud. Turning around, he walks over to the still restrained Mikumo, who by now has regained some of her mobility, as evidenced by her squirming under her straps. He undoes the belts restraining her, watching Mikumo as she tries to her exercise her muscles. She goes a little too far, nearly falling over when she tries to take a few steps from the operating table. Shiro catches her, leaning her body against his. She looks up at him, her face a mix between relief and embarrassment as she relaxes her tense muscles. He sits her on the operating table before turning to the man who is still sitting on the floor.

"Alright, before you tell me why you're doing what you're doing, I need to know: Are the effects of what you injected into her permanent or life-threatening?" Shiro asks, having regained his composure.

"The only thing we injected into her was a muscle paralyzer, as we had to make sure she wouldn't move around at all during the whole operation."

"And the background behind this operation?" Shiro asks, not prepared for what he was about to learn.

"Well, you might want to sit down for this one. It goes way back, to before the Windermereans declared war on everyone." The man says, his tone both resigned and at the same time, troubled.

* * *

This chapter, as you all probably know, was slightly longer than the last. Like I said in the last chapter, I don't know when these chapters will stabilize, so to speak. In addition, the posting schedule is in the same situation as the length of these chapters. Anyways, I hope you keep enjoying this story. Read and review!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys! I apologize for the massive delay in posting this chapter. I've more or less figured out a posting schedule, but not the average length of these chapters. I'll post a new chapter within 6-18 days of the last chapter, the reason for me not having a definite time period is because the chapters will still vary in length, so I'm giving myself extra time to review and revise the chapters. Anyways, read and review!

* * *

"What makes this operation so important?" Shiro asks.

The man takes a deep breath before responding. "I don't know all the details, but what I'm about to tell you is a mix of my current knowledge and some factual hypotheses I've made based on what I've heard from others."

Shiro nods before saying, "Continue."

"Alright, for me to really explain all this, I need to know what you know, so I don't say anything redundant."

"Right. What I know is basically what everyone else knows from the experiences that they've had. What we do know is that Mikumo is technically a clone of a woman who is known as the 'Star Singer' in the lore of Windermere. She is also more or less a non conventional weapon with the ability to control the minds of a population of people that stops short of the whole universe with her voice. However, she doesn't have full control of these abilities, and in encounters where she sang as the Star Singer, she was controlled by people who were of or very close to the royal bloodline. It's likely that her creation was overseen by Lady M, who may have been collaborating with NUNS." Shiro reviews.

"Okay, so you know the basic information about her."

"Obviously, neither NUNS nor Lady M has granted the rest of Delta Platoon or the captain of the Elysion any substantial information. I haven't been here long enough to know everything the others know about Mikumo. They've given me a rundown of what's happened, but there's a good chance that they might have left something out."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"I'm Mikumo's personal bodyguard, of sorts. As for the time I've been here, I've actually only been here for about three days or so. In spite of this, we already had an attempt to kidnap her. In fact, it was basically yesterday when we had that attack."

"So you barely know Mikumo."

"Mind if I join the conversation about myself?" Mikumo asks, to no one in particular.

The man and Shiro look at each other, before nodding at Mikumo.

"What Shiro's said so far is true, but like he mentioned, he doesn't quite know me so I'll take it from here. However, I'll be brief, mainly because I really want to know what your or whoever's purpose for all this is." She adds the last sentence with a serious tone.

The man shivers and Shiro looks at Mikumo, his expression unreadable.

"Go ahead, Mikumo."

Mikumo nods before speaking.

"Well, I'll say what I'm certain or almost certain of. Most of this is coming from the flashbacks that I had while I was unconscious after the more recent battle on Voldor. I haven't told the others all this, so you will be the first one to know all this, Shiro."

"Are you sure you don't want to say this to them? It seems that they're much closer to you than I am." Shiro asks, slight skepticism in his voice.

"They are, but that's part of the problem. They would be more likely to sugarcoat or withhold their responses. You'd be more honest with me, or at the very least, blunt."

Shiro nods before leveling his gaze at her. "Alright, but are you okay with him being here as well?"

She looks at the man who flinches when her gaze stops at him.

"I have no problems with this."

"Okay, then please, continue-"

Shiro is cut off by the sound of pounding on the operation door, followed by the sound of familiar voices.

"Hey Shiro! Mikumo!" Arad's voice is the first they hear.

"Are you guys okay?!" Kaname raises her voice just enough to be heard through the door.

"Guys, say something!" Freyja yells, her voice panicked.

Shiro walks over to the door before saying, "We're okay, but we're a bit busy right now, give us ten minutes, okay?"

There's a pause before Arad responds, "Alright, but give us an update soon. I don't like not knowing what's going on."

Shiro and Mikumo simultaneously sigh before looking at each other, then to the three bloodied dead bodies on the floor.

Shiro scratches the back of his head before sighing. "I wonder how I'm supposed to explain all this."

Mikumo looks at him, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Well, you can say that you did it to defend me, and all things considered, I don't blame you. So don't worry about it. I'm more worried about him." She motions to the man sitting on the floor.

"I accept whatever you guys choose to do with me. At this point, there's nothing I can do now, especially given that I've failed to inject the tracker in Mikumo."

"Oh, so that what you were injecting into me." Mikumo says, confirming the man's statement.

"But that doesn't explain why you guys had so many needles, nor does it explain how it killed the other three men." Shiro notes.

"It was a bio-tracker, designed to bond with Mikumo's body. The way it works is that the nano-machines in it would physically bond to everything close to the injection site, but because of this, it causes intense physical strain on the affected area. The only way to counter this was to inject every part of Mikumo's body, spreading the effects over her whole body. Mikumo's body was genetically modified to handle this level of strain. In addition, when you threw those needles back at those guys, you hit them in vital areas, the resulting physical strain bursting their arteries and veins." The man explains.

"Welp, shit." Shiro thinks to himself before responding.

"So, Mikumo, given that I doubt that we have time to continue any further, would you like to wait until after we've resolved all this before sharing your knowledge?"

Mikumo thinks for a few seconds before responding. "Yes, I would prefer to explain my side of things uninterrupted. I'd find it easier to do so with just the two of us."

"Alright, I'll let them know the situation and see what they want to do with him." He glances at the man still sitting on the floor.

The man looks directly at Shiro before saying, "Like I said earlier, do what you want with me. I have but one request in exchange for any information you want from me that I actually have."

"And that is?" Shiro asks.

"I have a wife and two children on Al Shahal right now. Given that I've failed in probably the most important task that NUNS has assigned me, they will probably go after my family."

"And you want us to take them in under our protection?" Shiro assumed.

"You don't have to go that far, just hide them, or at least give them a chance to run away." The man pleads.

"You do realize that if we do that, NUNS will most likely won't take that lying down."

The man sighs before lowering his head. "I understand that, and I'm not going to try and justify what I tried to do, but please, I know what NUNS does to the families of people who fail important tasks. I'll do anything, please."

Mikumo looks at Shiro, her expression firm yet gentle.

Shiro exhales before he responds. "I'll consult the others. As you probably know, I'm not the one in charge, so even if I wanted to, I don't have the authority to do anything. If they approve, I'll consider it, but you should know, Mikumo's safety is my main objective. If it comes down to it, I WILL leave your family behind."

The man looks up, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "That's all I'm asking for."

"By the way, I never got your name."

"I'm Toland Stein. I'm a bio-engineer."

"Well, Mr. Stein, I'm about to let our friends and my superior back in this room, so you should be prepared for some...negative backlash from them." Shiro states.

Toland gulps nervously as he watches Shiro walk up to the door and says that everyone on the other side of the door is clear to go inside. No sooner than when he said that did the door burst open and two men, one rather young, the other considerably older, ran into the room, followed by a group of girls with varying hair colors. They stop and survey the room, noticing the three bloody bodies on the ground before looking at Shiro. Toland can't help but notice how they seem scared but at the same time, it seems as though they accept Shiro's actions. Ignoring the bodies, they walk over to Mikumo, making sure that she is still intact, mentally and physically. The other two males ignore him, walking over to Shiro, who says something inaudible to them. The two males look over at Toland, then back to Shiro, who gives the latter a nod, easing Toland's nerves.

After the incident, the operation room was cleaned up like nothing ever happened. No one except for Arad spoke to Toland, who simply told the latter that naturally, he would be detained for a interrogation, but they would otherwise treat him fairly. When the group made it back to the Elysion, the members of Walkure and Delta Platoon were debriefed by Shiro, who explained the whole incident, including the contents of the injectors that Toland tried to inject into Mikumo, and how the other three men died.

Afterward, Mikumo pulled Shiro aside to tell him her side of the story, and as she described every flashback and vision that she had, Shiro found himself shocked by what she was describing. He remained stoic, however, seeing as recalling those memories seemed to bother Mikumo greatly, as she couldn't stop shaking and Shiro had to hold her for a minute before she calmed down enough to continue on. The experiences that she described confirmed Shiro's suspicions about Mikumo's development as weapon of sorts. What he couldn't confirm, however, was how Lady M was involved, or what the end result of Mikumo's development was supposed to be. He decided that he would only give this information to Reina, whom he entrusted to keep it a secret from the others, on the sole reason that there wasn't enough information to make an accurate conclusion, to which Reina agreed. Shiro pondered how far NUNS was willing to go to have Mikumo under their control, and how ironic it was that a weapon was hired to protect another weapon.

Arad and Ernest kept good on their word, and Toland was satisfied knowing that there was hope for his family. Two weeks later, he was informed that a special ops team under the directive of Captain Ernest was dispatched to find his family on Al Shahal given the information he provided. Shiro, despite being the one to suggest the operation and the one to bring up the information, was not included in the operation. Toland honestly didn't care, as long as his family was on Al Shahal, the spec ops team would find them. Little did he know, he was already too late.

* * *

 _The day the Spec Ops team returned to the Elysion, four days after Toland was informed about the operation._

Toland waited eagerly on the launch deck of the Aether, where the shuttle that was supposed to contain his family was on approach. Next to him were Arad and Shiro, who was asked by Arad and Ernest to escort Toland's family to him before meeting up with the other members of Delta Platoon for his first day of flight training. The shuttle's rear bay door opened to reveal six figures in black clothing and tactical armor with rifles on their back. They walk out slowly, lowering their face masks before looking at the three men standing before them. Toland's face changes from hopefulness to fear upon seeing the men, then to a mixture of horror and sorrow upon seeing what was behind the squad of soldiers on the floor of the shuttle. The last man out, presumably the squad leader, walks up to him, his face grim.

"I'm sorry. They were like this when we arrived."

Toland pales as he walks into the shuttle to confirm the man's words. He gazes at the three body bags on the floor of the shuttle. Just by eyeing them, he can tell two of them are notably smaller than the last, and the last one exactly matches the body of the one person that made his life worth living for. He lowers the zipper just enough to reveal the face of a woman with a small face and brown, shoulder length hair. There is a massive cut across the forehead, and a large scar in place of the left eye. He closes the zipper before standing up and walking out, his face calm, his eyes brimming with cold fury. He walks up to Arad, who regards him with a grim expression while Shiro, like usual, remains stoic. He stops in front of Arad, his gaze leveled with Arad's.

"I don't care what it takes from me, I want to know one thing: Can you track down whoever did this to my family?" He asks, his tone leaking anger.

Arad sighs before responding. "We can, but unless the ones who did this have something to do with our goals, we aren't going to go off a tangent just to help you get revenge."

Toland calms down visibly before replying. "I have information and resources that you guys might possibly need. Especially since NUNS will most likely be your enemy in the imminent future."

Arad stops to think before he responds to Toland. "We'll discuss this with the Captain, Walkure and the members of Delta Platoon. The latter two groups will most likely be involved in an operation should we decide to pursue the ones who did this to your family."

The squad leader walks up to Arad and Toland, clearing his throat to get their attention. "About that sir, it appears that you or someone else may be able to gather some information from these." He hands Arad a few small squares with orange circuit-like lines engraved into them.

"What are these?"

"Those are data chips with audio files on them. We found them one of the bodies. When we tried to play the audio on them, we heard a variety of voices, but it seems the data chip is pretty badly damaged. Perhaps someone could repair and extract the information?"

Toland picks up one of the data chips from Arad's hand, gazing at it intently before looking back up at the squad leader.

"You found these on the body of the woman, didn't you?"

"That is correct. Why do you ask?"

"Because I know exactly how to get the information off the chips. They aren't damaged, they're set up this way to appear so." His face breaks into a sad smile. "Only a few people in the universe know how to do this, and I married one of them. As far as I know, I'm the only one who knows how to retrieve that data."

"I assume that you want the data chips?" Arad asks, extending the data chips to Toland.

"Yes, I do. If you don't mind, I would like access to certain resources to retrieve the data."

"As long as you don't cause any trouble, you can have access to anything you want. We'll decide whether or not it's worth helping you take action."

"That's fine with me. I'll be working on this for a while, so you don't have to expect anything."

"Ok. Well, if that's all, I'll have Shiro here escort you to your quarters. Let us know when you figure things out."

"Thank you."

* * *

With that, Shiro escorted Toland to his quarters, while Arad took the spec ops squad to debrief Ernest on the bridge. After escorting Toland to his quarters, Shiro walked down to the hangar of the Aether to meet up with Hayate, Mirage, and Chuck. The later three were already in their respective flight suits.

"I thought we were doing flight training?" Shiro asks.

"Well," Chuck answers, "we were, but the Captain insisted we start with teaching you how to fly before we teach you the basics."

 _"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"_ Shiro thinks to himself. "Okay, what are we going to do?"

"Long story short, we're going to put you in an actual fighter, not one of ours, of course, and we're going to execute a mock dogfight to make you learn faster" Mirage says.

"Don't worry about it, we'll go easy on you, and we'll make sure you don't get _seriously_ injured." Hayate adds.

 _"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to enjoy this?"_ Shiro thinks to himself. "Okay, well, we might as well get started. Do I need to know anything else before we start?"

"Oh yeah, you need a pilot suit. We have a trainee suit in the changing room behind us to the right." Mirage adds.

Shiro walks past them into the room that they described, finding an open locker with a white suit that included black shoulder pads, black boots, and a white helmet with an orange visor. Upon donning the suit, Shiro realizes that, somehow, the suit fits him perfectly, as if they had gotten his measurements before they had even recruited him. Pushing his extra side thoughts aside, he finishes putting the suit on and grabs his helmet before exiting the changing room. He then walks over to the three pilots still standing at the same place they were before.

"So, you three obviously have your own fighters, where's the one I'll be flying?"

"You'll be flying a Nightmare, Makina hasn't even started tweaking the Siegfried that you might be getting in the near future." Hayate replies.

"What is a Nightmare?" Shiro asks, not familiar with the nickname that the fighters were given.

"Nightmares are the standard Variable Fighter that NUNS deploys all over the universe. Siegfrieds are the fighters that we fly, Chaos orders them, Makina and Reina tweak them. Every pilot here has a Siegfried tuned to them specifically, and assuming you pass our initial tests, you'll get one yourself." Mirage explains.

"Okay, anything else I need to know before we get started?"

"Y'know, besides how to fly a fighter?" Chuck jabs at Shiro.

"Yes. Besides how to fly a fighter." Shiro says without a hint of humor.

"Nope that's it. Let's go." Hayate quickly says.

With that, each pilot climbed into their respective fighters, and they took off. Without Shiro, who still had no idea how to even start the fighter. He looked around the cockpit, looking for anything that might give him a clue. A couple minutes passed before the HUD in Shiro's cockpit lit up, displaying the faces of Makina and Reina, both of which were smiling at him. Shiro looks intently at the two before sighing.

"I take it you two are here to either pour salt into my wounds or to help me start this thing."

"Actually, we're here to do both." Makina chimes bubbly.

"We'll help you first before we tease you a bit." Reina adds in her usual monotone tone, which contrasts her expression.

Shiro exhales before responding. "I hope that your way of teasing doesn't include something like turning off the engines while I'm mid-flight."

Makina and Reina look at each other before giggling and turning back to him.

"Nonsense!"

"We wouldn't do such a thing."

"Alright, whatever you say. Just tell me how to work this fighter and you can do whatever you want to me _after_ I land back on the Elysion in one piece."

"Fine, but we get to do anything, okay?"

"Don't take it too far, okay?"

"Fair enough."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, outside the Aether_

Hayate, Mirage, and Chuck are hovering a small distance away from the Aether's runway, guns drawn.

"Do you think he'll make it out?" Chuck asks, looking at the clock in his fighter's cockpit.

"I doubt it." Hayate yawns.

"Well, the Captain said we have at least two hours to get him up to speed on the basics of flying." Mirage adds, scanning the hanger that they launched from, looking for any activity.

"What if he doesn't make it out?" Chuck asks, apparently the only one who cares about Shiro.

"I guess we'll have to go in there and drag him out." Mirage states, a sadistic smile breaking out on her face.

Hayate and Chuck look at each other nervously, obviously offset by their superior's sudden change in demeanor. A roar grabs the trio's attention. As they turn towards the source of the sound, they're met with a blur of a khaki fighter that blows past them. They look at each other for a moment before switching their Siegfrieds into fighter mode to chase the Nightmare that was soaring into the sky.

* * *

 _The bridge of the Elysion_

Arad walks on to the bridge to see the members of Walkure standing in front of a screen displaying the skies around the Elysion.

"Well, I didn't expect this. Why are you guys so interested in the flight training Shiro's undergoing right now?" Arad asks.

"We're more or less interested in how well or how poorly our new bodyguard will perform as a pilot." Kaname responds.

"You mean _Kumo-Kumo's_ bodyguard?" Makina lightly teases Kaname.

"Isn't that what she meant?" Freyja asks, slightly confused.

"For all intents and purposes, Shiro's role is similar to Delta Platoon's, except that he is always going to be paired with Mikumo whenever possible, and even then, he is going to be more adept at keeping up with her than the rest of Delta Platoon." Ernest adds.

Neither Reina nor Mikumo say anything, although Mikumo is considerably more focused on the screen than Reina. Her emotionless eyes track the movements of the fighter that stands out from the rest of Delta Platoon's. The motions are erratic, each turn jerky and every maneuver even more so. All Shiro was doing at this point was trying to dodge the volley of paint rounds being stormed upon him. He rarely fired back, even when one of the three was right in front of him. To anyone else, Shiro had no idea what he was doing, but to Mikumo, she could tell that Shiro knew what he was doing, he just couldn't quite put his thoughts into actions. Not the way he was expected to, anyway.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Freyja asked, "How has Shiro not been completely painted a rainbow yet? Hayate got painted a new one when he did his flight exam, and that was just against Mirage-san. Shiro's facing Hayate, Mirage-san and Chuck, and he's only been grazed a few times."

"I think a better question is how Shiro even knew how to take off in a fighter. I was under the impression that he had little to no flight experience, yet he can dodge the majority of the shots being fired at him." Arad wonders aloud.

"Well, you see," Makina nervously says, "we kinda taught him how to start and operate variable fighter in like, five minutes."

"But that still doesn't explain how he's flying like a cadet in flight school and not like some kid we threw in a fighter for shits and giggles." Arad notes.

"I think I can answer that." Everyone's eyes turn towards Mikumo. "I've only known him for a few days, at best, but I can definitely see this. Shiro has incredible reflexes, and despite him being completely new to piloting, he's managed to perform adequately for someone who started flying today." Her eyes never leave the display.

"Hoh, Mikumo, are you actually interested in him?" Arad questions, surprised by her attitude and behavior.

"I guess I am, I can't quite determine why though." Mikumo absentmindedly responds.

The members of Walkure and Arad look at each other, expressions a mix of surprise and amusement.

"Well," Kaname says "things are certainly about to get more interesting, in more ways than one."

* * *

Hey guys! Again, sorry about taking so long to post a chapter, and for those who really care, sorry for this chapter being shorter than the last couple. I'm trying my best right now, what with my other commitments and stuff. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter, and I hope to hear from you guys.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! I apologize for being way off schedule. I may have to extend my posting schedule to at least 25 days. I don't know what took me so long to post this chapter. Anyways, I am not even close to being finished with this story, so I hope you like long stories, and stay tuned!

* * *

 _The skies around the Elysion_

The sound of paint rounds being fired echo through the skies, accompanied by the scream of engines. Shiro's Nightmare dives through a cloud bank, followed by the Siegfrieds of Delta Platoon. Hayate is the closest and most aggressive pursuer out of the three pilots chasing Shiro. Every turn that Shiro makes, Hayate is not far behind, copying the latter's movements almost exactly, except the latter's movements are much smoother. Mirage is tailing Hayate, ready to break off at the drop of the hat in case Shiro manages to outmaneuver Hayate. Chuck is following the dogfight at a considerable distance, monitoring Shiro's movements and giving information to Hayate and Mirage. Every time one of the two fires at Shiro, he/she barely manages to graze Shiro's fighter, as the latter always dodges the shots. Shiro, however, rarely returned fire as he was always dodging Hayate and/or Mirage's shots.

"This isn't going anywhere. Suggestions, anyone?" Hayate asks as his shots fail to nick Shiro's wings.

"I don't." Mirage responds, frustrated. "We've been at this for fifteen minutes now, and we can't land a clean hit on this guy."

They notice Shiro's Nightmare suddenly enter Battroid mode, then switch to Gerwalk mode as it spins off to the side.

"Geez, what are the odds that Shiro doesn't have the slightest clue what he's doing?" Chuck asks as he monitors the still spinning fighter.

"I think you're right, Chuck. But what are we supposed to take down a pilot who has no idea what he's doing?" Hayate asks as he observes Shiro's fighter bounce between all three modes.

"Let's think about it this way," Mirage says, "what would we do if we were suddenly tossed into a war machine that we didn't have the slightest clue how to use?"

"Not get in it in the first place?" Chuck answers.

"I need a real answer here, Chuck." Mirage replies, not amused.

"That was a real answer." Chuck retorts.

"Well, we wouldn't have a choice, nor did Shiro, so it really wasn't." Hayate adds. "I think I spent most of my training time memorizing what action in the cockpit results in the fighter's corresponding action."

"Well," Mirage says, "I think that's what Shiro's trying to do-"

She barely manages to dodge a spinning Nightmare in Gerwalk mode that would have collided with her if she didn't roll out of the way.

The three pilots turn to see Shiro's Nightmare plummeting towards the surface of the water as it bounces between the three modes twice each before transforming into fighter mode and turning vertically straight up towards them.

"I think he figured it out." Hayate concludes.

"You don't say. Come on, he's still a newbie when it comes to flying, we can beat him." Chuck sparks, trying not to be intimidated by the man who learned how to fly a Variable Fighter in twenty minutes.

The three Siegfried pilots dodge the volley of paint rounds fired by Shiro, only to be kept on their toes when Shiro positions himself in between the three of them, firing at all three of them. None of them could really consider Shiro's actions and movements as those of a rookie anymore. Every action executed was so smooth, it was like fighting the Aerial Knights. They still couldn't get past the fact that Shiro learned to pilot a fighter at an unprecedented rate. They almost paid for it, as Shiro capitalized on their being distracted. He rolled over them, attacking the three from behind. He targeted Chuck, shooting the latter, who was in Gerwalk mode, enough times to cover the dish on the back of his Siegfried. Chuck getting taken out snaps the remaining two pilots out of their daze.

"Hayate! Formation, Halman!"

"Yes ma'am!"

The two pilots execute their maneuver, forcing Shiro to go on the defensive. Hayate charges Shiro head-on, while Mirage attacks from the side. Shiro dodges the shots by an inch, diving near vertically. Every time Hayate and Mirage attempted to corner Shiro, the latter would dodge and weave past them, but every time Shiro tried to counterattack, the duo would defend one another back to back, making an attack impossible to execute without getting hit. The two sides alternate on attack on defense, the dogfight devolving into an endless loop.

Finally, after twenty minutes, a voice comes on through the comms of the three remaining fighters.

"Alright, that's enough. All members of Delta Platoon return to the Aether for debrief." Arad orders.

His orders are met with the responses of the three.

"Yes sir."

"Yes sir."

"Understood."

Shiro didn't know what his objective was, although he was reluctant to ask. He surmised that the whole situation was to assess his abilities as a pilot, although it wasn't very convienent for him to learn how to fly a Variable Fighter in the time he was allotted. Hayate and Mirage, on the other hand, knew exactly what Shiro's objective was because he didn't really have one. They had expected him to be shot down easily, and in the event he put up a fight, they'd use their numbers and skill advantage to put him down. Obviously, that didn't go according to plan. As they flew back to the Aether, Hayate and Mirage reflected on the events of the past thirty minutes. The biggest question among them that they unknowingly shared with the people present on the bridge: Who was this man?

* * *

The bridge of the Elysion

The members of Walkure watch with a mix of curiosity and awe at the events that had transpired. They had expected Shiro to get slaughtered by their comrades, and instead he took out one of them and basically fought the other two to a draw. As Freyja, Makina, and Reina turned to discuss among themselves, Kaname walks over to Mikumo, who is deep in thought.

"Mikumo."

The violet haired singer snaps out of her trance and focuses her crimson eyes on Walkure's manager.

"Yes, Kaname?" Her voice is monotone, but Kaname has spent enough time to know that Mikumo was slightly annoyed at her, for whatever reason.

"What do you think about him?"

She answers after a few moments. "He's very interesting, if not somewhat suspicious."

Kaname pauses for a second. "I said, what do _you_ think about him? Don't give me the company line, Mikumo."

Mikumo tilts her head ever so slightly. "Does my opinion really matter? I'm still stuck with him, aren't I?"

Kaname sighs before answering. "Yes, you will be, given your...habits...I just want to know how you feel about him as a person, as a bodyguard, or in general."

Mikumo looks off into the distance as she goes into deep thought. What did she think of him? They had known each other for about two and a half weeks now, but they were still complete strangers, although that was partly in her fault. She didn't really talk to him, and when she did, it was out of necessity, like where he would and wouldn't follow her. He also didn't really talk much, a fact not helped by his near constant blank expression. He reminded her of Messer, they were both quiet, calm, and reserved; although even Messer talked more than Shiro did. Now that she thought about it, Messer was in to Kaname, from what she heard from the other girls, and Kaname was a close friend of Messer's, so that was probably why. Back to Shiro, he was interesting to her in more ways than one. It seemed that he was used to being alone, yet here he was, applying for a position that would involve a considerable amount of social interaction. He was a very skilled fighter, but it seemed that there was more to him than he had revealed. On top of that, he worked as bodyguard for other important people and/or their children, when his primary skill set seemed to be nothing but offensive. She couldn't wrap her head around him, and it both bothered her and interested her to no end.

While she became lost in her thoughts, Chuck, Hayate, Mirage, and Shiro returned the bridge. Arad and Kaname turn to meet them, while Freyja walks over to Hayate. The three Delta Platoon pilots salute Arad, and Shiro mimics the action.

"There's no need for you to do that, Shiro." Arad says. "While you technically don't have a rank, your position as Mikumo's bodyguard, in addition to your impressive skills and abilities, you might as well be a Lieutenant, if not, a Captain."

"Is that really how it works?" Hayate asks, somewhat skeptical.

"No, but Captain Ernest and I were discussing it, and while we don't think it will be a problem, we'd prefer if Shiro wasn't a lower rank than you guys just so that officially, he doesn't need your consent to act on his own."

"If that's the case, then why does Mikumo act on her own?" Mirage asks, glancing at the violet haired singer, who is still lost in thought.

"Well, for one thing," Arad starts, "Walkure is its own entity, separate from the military section of Chaos, so we can't actually order them to do anything. It just so happens that their abilities and goals coincide with ours. Furthermore, I don't really think anyone can control Mikumo, not completely, anyway."

"Does she go off on her own that often?" Shiro calmly asks. "Based on the way she behaved around me for the past two weeks, she's never left my sight, or I've always known where she is and I kept a close tab on her. I haven't really had to do anything extra to keep up with her. She just wanders about most of the time, it's not as though she was actively trying to lose me. Unless what I'm describing is new, it seems that Mikumo likes to roam about."

"Then why does she ditch me every time we've been paired together on a mission?" Mirage asks, exasperated by Shiro's nonchalant attitude.

"Perhaps your personalities don't sync quite right?" Shiro's expression is blank.

"If only it was that simple, Shiro." Mirage shoots back, her ear twitching.

Kaname, Arad, Hayate, and Freyja watch with amusement at Shiro unwittingly pissing off Mirage when Mikumo walks over to the former.

"Shiro?" Mikumo's voice has a curious tone to it.

Shiro turns towards the singer with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Yes, Mikumo?"

The members of Delta Platoon, Walkure, and Shiro notice that Mikumo has pinkish tint on her cheeks, which surprises all of them to no end.

"Umm..." she pauses, unsure how to continue. "Are we going to be sleeping in the same room, all by ourselves?"

The pilots' jaws drop and the singers' eyes bulge at this. Shiro visibly stiffens.

"Where did that come from?" Shiro asks, his voice dripping with tension.

"Makina and Reina were told by Captain Ernest that the personnel block that our rooms are in need repairs badly enough that we and a few others need to be 'relocated,' and that due to a lack of housing, we'll be together in a room for the foreseeable future."

Shiro suddenly remembers the "favor" the two mentioned girls wanted from him when they helped him start flying thirty minutes ago.

By the time she finished, Arad and Mirage were staring at the two of them, while Freyja and Hayate were gaping at Shiro specifically. Shiro glances around the bridge, only to see that the two girls that brought this information were missing, and the captain of the ship was gone as well, although Shiro saw him leave while they were talking about his rank. Shiro sighs and inwardly curses the awkward situation those two girls put him into.

"Mikumo, I had no prior knowledge of this, so at this point, you probably know more than I do. Also, why does it bother you so much that we'll be sharing the same room? I had to sleep in your room for the first week or so when I first arrived here."

Mikumo fidgets before responding. "Makina and Reina told me that you might use this as an opportunity to do...things...to me."

Shiro's eye twitches, a movement noticed only by Mikumo. "I really hope I'm wrong in my assumptions, but what did you think I would do to you?"

Mikumo shifts awkwardly. "They said that you would...ravage me...while no one was around after you tied me up."

"And why do you believe that they would be correct about me?"

Mikumo visibly calms down before answering. "They seem to know a lot more about guys than I do, and they haven't lied to me before."

"Well, they obviously did now." Shiro replies, "and if anyone of these girls here knows about guys, it's either your manager, or the only girl in your group that's dating right now."

Freyja and Kaname look at each other, then back at Mikumo. Freyja is the first to speak.

"Mikumo-san, I don't really know a lot about guys, but I can tell their character after being around them for a while. I'm certain that Shiro-san is a good person, not the way that Makina-san and Reina-san described him. They're probably just teasing you."

"Mikumo, I don't want to weaken your trust in Makina and Reina, but you shouldn't believe everything that they say. Especially when the topic is more...sensitive... Anyway, why don't we go and resolve the issue with the Captain?"

"Speaking of him, do any of you know where Captain Ernest went?" Shiro interjects.

"I think he's got a meeting with the scientist we picked up." Arad says.

"So what do we do until then?" Kaname asks.

"I'm going to figure what the situation is with my and Mikumo's quarters. If we really do have to relocate, I'd rather not wait until dark to start moving."

"So you're not going to do lewd things to me?" Mikumo asks, not quite over Makina's and Reina's words to her.

"You really need to stop hanging around those two." Kaname, Freyja, Hayate, and Arad say in sync.

* * *

One of the meeting rooms in the Elysion.

Toland is sitting at the end of the circular table, facing the door. In front of him are the data chips that were recovered off of the bodies. He taps the data pad that was granted to him while he stayed in the Elysion. He looks over the information, ensuring that his eyes don't deceive him. Ernest walks in, glancing at Toland before walking over to one of the seats across from him and sitting down.

"What have you found, Mr. Stein?" Ernest's voice is strictly professional, although there is an underlying question in his tone.

"I don't know where to start, I have so much information, I haven't even processed all of it yet." Toland says, exasperated.

"If you haven't processed all of the information yet, then what you have processed must be very important." Ernest replies.

Toland takes a deep breath before responding. "That's the thing. It relates to the both of us very, very strongly."

"How so?"

"The Ragna division of Chaos was attacked approximately two weeks ago, correct?"

Ernest raises an eyebrow. "That is correct. What of it?"

"Were the attackers using NUNS aircraft?"

"They were. What does this have to do with you?"

"Ob Neghaus," Toland shows Ernest a picture of a short man with blonde shaggy hair. "ordered the hit on my family, AND is a known supplier of illegally obtained armaments, which are include but are not limited to: military grade firearms, explosives of all sorts, and last but not least, variable fighters of varying quality."

Ernest pauses for a moment before continuing. "Why did he order the hit on your family?"

Toland takes a deep breath. "I mentioned before that I am a bio-engineer, right?"

Ernest nods.

"Well, my specific area of expertise is micro technological integration with the human body. I've been tasked with learning what kinds of technology we can put into a human body, and how far we can push said technology before there are negative side effects that are beyond the allowed margin of error." Seeing Ernest's blank expression, he continued. "In this sense, it's very close to modifying a human body with technological enhancements. That's why I was present during the operation on Ms. Guynemer. With the sharp increase of people who have fold bacteria within their bodies, there is considerable interest in the possibility of augmenting a person with fold bacteria beyond the capacity of a person without fold bacteria."

"And is it possible?" Ernest asks, dreading the answer.

"It is, under certain circumstances. Having said this, I need to know: Do all the members of Walkure have fold bacteria within them?"

"Yes, they do."

"And that is the source of their ability to cure people afflicted with Var Syndrome?"

"That is correct."

"Then I suggest that you listen to what I'm about to say, very, very carefully. While it is fairly common knowledge that the number of people possessing fold bacteria is increasing steadily, it is also common that said people do not know how to control and/or utilize their fold bacteria, which makes individuals like the members of Walkure very rare. However, now that it has become clear that Ms. Guynemer has the ability to manipulate and essentially infinite number of people's minds with her voice, it's highly likely that she and Walkure will become high priority targets of various governments. And before you tell me that NUNS will act otherwise, I have evidence that strongly suggests that NUNS is falling apart from the inside out."

"How do you obtain this evidence, and how can it be trusted?" Ernest asks, his voice icy.

"I used to be highly ranked in my branch, and because of that, I was permitted to attend meetings with some of the leaders within NUNS. If you don't believe me still, pull aside the green-haired IT specialist. I'm sure she can pull out my old records as a NUNS engineer." He paused for a moment. "Or delete them. Either way, what I've told you is correct, at least from the information that I've collected."

Ignoring the fact that Toland possibly knew the members of Walkure and their specific skills, Ernest continued. "What do you think they're going to do?"

Toland shrugs. "It's hard to say. There are at least three different distinct entities within NUNS as of right now. There's the group that wants to seize all known fold bacteria-possessing individuals and experiment on them, there's the group that wants to do nothing for now and see how things turn out, and then there's the group that wants to utilize people like the members of Walkure in specialized operations groups. They're not quite clear on how they'll organize all of that, but it's clear that their mindset is to not wait and do nothing, while not being irrational like the first group."

"Can you not give specific group names or a list of high-ranking persons associated with their respective groups?"

"I could, but I can't guarantee it'll all be 100% accurate. The lines are still blurry and people are still moving back and forth."

Ernest stops and thinks for a minute. "What do you want to do, Mr. Stein?"

Toland looks at Ernest for a moment before tapping on his data pad absentmindedly. "To be honest, I doubt that my opinion will influence your decisions. However, if I were in a position to do something or not, I would gather as much information as possible on the matter whilst trying to avoid any negative repercussions."

"Well, Mr. Stein, since you've been rather helpful and cooperative, I would like to propose an agreement."

"And that is?"

"Would you be interested in a position here, at Chaos?"

Toland responds almost immediately. "I would be. However, I would like to know some things."

"Such as?"

"Will I be employed according to my skill sets?"

"Yes, you will be."

"Will I be able to work with Walkure?"

"You don't plan on doing anything that would cause harm to them?"

"No, I'm just very interested in them."

"Then, as long as you don't interfere with their schedules, you can."

"I would also like to see what kind of equipment you currently have, as it would make my job easier knowing what I have to work with."

"That can wait. It would be wise to introduce you to the rest of Walkure and Delta Platoon, just so that they don't get extra suspicious of you."

"This proposal was made without their knowledge, I presume?"

"Yes, although I doubt that they will hold arguments against it. You have proven that you have no interest in returning to NUNS, and that you have no plans that would otherwise be detrimental to the organization."

"You can tell all of that just by speaking with me?"

"I'm a very good judge of character, Mr. Stein. Now, we should start getting you up to speed here. We can discuss your pay later, hopefully."

"That won't be necessary, Captain. I have no interest in money, with the exception of funding my research and/or purchasing new equipment. Consider what I don't use free range for the company to use how it sees fit."

Ernest grins. "Well then, Mr. Stein, that makes things much easier for the both of us, doesn't it?"

* * *

 _The crew block of the Elysion_

Mikumo and Shiro, followed by Arad, Kaname, Mirage, Hayate and Freyja are towards the two rooms that Shiro and Mikumo are currently staying in. Upon arrival, they see that nothing appears out of the ordinary.

Arad looks at the group. "I suggest we split up and inspect the rooms. I'll take the guys and look around Shiro's room. Kaname, you take the girls and inspect Mikumo's room. Sound good?"

"Which one's Shiro's and which one's Mikumo's?" Kaname asks.

"My room is the one on the left. Mikumo's is on the right." Shiro responds.

With that, the two groups go into their respective rooms. Shiro, Arad, and Hayate go into the former's room. The room is pretty much empty, save for a bed, a small nightstand with an alarm clock and a lamp on it, all of which are standard for a room on the Elysion. The only thing that stands out is a fairly large black box with orange circuit-like lines on it sitting in the corner of the room next to the bathroom.

"Geez, Shiro, you don't have any personal belongings?" Hayate asks.

"I do. My clothes are in the nightstand, and I have my equipment in the mobile armory in the corner." Shiro responds blankly. He checks the nightstand's drawers, seeing nothing out of place. He then goes over to the black box in the corner, opening the various different racks of weapons and utilities before closing it.

"Anything seem out of the ordinary?" Arad asks.

"Not that I can tell. The room is more or less identical to the way I left it this morning. I'm certain that Makina and Reina were just teasing me and Mikumo."

"That doesn't seem like them." Hayate notes.

"What do you mean?" Shiro looks at Hayate.

"Normally, when they pull pranks, they mean business." Hayate says, remembering how they "convinced" him and Freyja to come down after the battle of Ragna.

"Hayate's got a point, Shiro." Arad adds. "If they didn't do anything to your room, there's a pretty good chance that they did something to Mikumo's room."

"Well, I think the girls can handle it. Mirage's with them, so they should be fine. If they run into any problems, we'd probably be able to hear it." Hayate says, sitting on the bed.

"I agree. I'll give it a few minutes before we go check on them." Arad adds.

"You two seem rather laid back about this whole situation. Do Makina and Reina do this often?" Shiro questions.

"You have no idea." The two pilots respond simultaneously.

"Since we have a bit of time, is there anything we need to discuss, Captain?" Shiro asks.

"You can drop the formalities, Shiro. I apologize if I didn't make it clear earlier, but my rank is just a formality. You don't have to be so stiff."

"Very well, then. Anything that you need to tell me, or ask me?"

"I have something I'd like to ask you, Shiro." Hayate asks.

"Go ahead."

Hayate glances at the box in the corner of the room. "What's in that box over there? You called it a mobile armory earlier, but it doesn't really look like one."

"There's a variety of weapons in there, as well as some tools and equipment."

"What kinds of weapons?" Arad asks.

"Is there a reason that you need to know? Forgive my rudeness, but I don't give that information freely. It might be used against me or the people around me."

"That's perfectly fine. I just want to know what kinds of weapons you have in there, as it represents your combat method and mentality." Arad reasons.

Shiro thinks for a minute before responding. "Ok, but I need you and Hayate to keep this information confidential. Sound fair?"

"Understood. Hayate?"

"Yeah. To be honest, I doubt I'll remember most, if not, all of it."

"Very well then. I'll show you what I use most often, and go from there." He walks over to the black box, tapping it on the surface. The black box's lines glow orange briefly before various racks appear from the box, holding various weapons. Shiro walks over to the rack holding his swords. He picks one of the largest ones and holds it for Arad and Hayate to see.

"This is my extended combat sword, and it has a second identical replica. I use the set mainly when I know I'm going to be in combat or when I think I'm going to be in combat for a long period of time. It's longer and slightly wider than my other two pairs, and it can be combined into a double bladed sword."

He returns it to its place on the rack before picking up a sword that's nearly identical in design, but is somewhat shorter and thinner than the previous. "This is my primary sword, and like the others, it comes in a pair. It's the balanced version of my swords, and I use it pretty much whenever I need a weapon. It can be combined to form an enlarged, two-handed sword."

He then repeats the previous action, picking up a sword that's considerably shorter than the other two swords. "This is my compact sword. Because it is shorter and thinner than my both my primary and extended combat swords, I can hide them in places most people don't expect. They fold and compress like so." He twists the hilt, resulting in an audible clanking action. The blade splits down the middle, the longer blunt side of the blade sliding over the shorter sharpened side. The hilt opens up just enough to allow the sandwiched blades to slide in to about halfway on the hilt before closing. Shiro twists the handle in the opposite direction, causing the process to reverse before he places them back on the racks. "To be honest though, I think they're really big knives, but they're technically swords due to the fact that they're longer than my forearm."

"Umm," Hayate interjects, "why do you have three different sets of swords? It seems like overkill to me."

Shiro exhales softly. "Other than the reasons mentioned before, it helps me stay versatile. Similar to the firearms that I have, having different sets of swords helps me adjust to using different weapons on the battlefield."

Arad chuckles. "Damn, Shiro. You're really serious about those swords. I think the Aerial Knights might've gotten it from you."

"Who?"

"It's not important, not now anyway. You said you had firearms in there?"

"Yes, I have two handguns and two sub-machine guns-"

"Are there any weapons you don't have two of?" Hayate asks, not expecting the answer.

"I don't have two machine guns, and I rarely, if ever dual-wield my sniper rifles."

Arad and Hayate stare at him with shocked expressions. Arad is the first to recover.

"So let me get this straight. You have two of every firearm in your arsenal, except for machine guns, you dual wield your handheld firearms consistently, and you dual-wield your sniper rifles occasionally?"

Shiro looks at him normally. "That is correct."

"Why?" Arad and Hayate ask at the same time, albeit with vastly different tones.

"I'm ambidextrous, and it bothers me when I only use one hand more than the other in battle."

Arad and Hayate look at each other with looks that said, "Well that makes a lot of sense," while Shiro places the weapons back in the black box and closes it.

After a minute or so, Arad looks at Shiro. "I thought you stated that you were a close combat specialist? Assuming that you have the training to effectively use the firearms within your arsenal, you'd technically be an elite assault specialist."

"That would be by your classifications, Arad. To me, I've trained myself to use these firearms with enough proficiency to meet certain standards. But like every individual, I have a set of skills that stands out high above the rest. For you, you've trained to be moderately proficient with firearms, and if needed, be placed in the role of a soldier. But, your skills as a pilot are far better than your firearm skills. Therefore, you are considered a pilot. It's the same way for me; I've trained to use firearms because it is necessary in this day and age, but my skills in hand-to-hand combat and sword-wielding are considerably better than my other skills." Shiro explains.

"I guess that makes sense, though I can't help but wonder: if you're proficient enough with firearms to be able to dual-wield snipers as effectively as you claim, how good are you with your swords?" Hayate asks.

Shiro gives a small smile. "I could tell you some of the things I've done, but I think I demonstrated my abilities rather well in front of the members of Walkure during the attack on the Elysion. If they haven't already told you, you should go talk to them. I'm sure they remember."

"You're one hell of a dangerous man, Shiro Okumura. Glad to have you on our side." Arad chuckles softly.

"Will that be all, sir?"

"Yes. I think we've spent enough time discussing this. We should check on the girls now."

"Agreed."

* * *

Again, sorry about the delay. Also, this chapter was a bit longer than my longest chapter in the story, so I hope no one minded. If you did, leave it in your reviews please and thank you. Like I said in the previous author's notes, I do not have a concrete posting schedule nor do I have a concrete chapter length. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and leave a review.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys! I'm done trying to figure out a posting schedule, and I don't think I can figure one out anytime soon. I apologize for this, but I'd rather be honest with you guys. If you have any questions pertaining to the story, feel free to send me a private message.

* * *

 _Mikumo's Room_

Mikumo, Freyja, Mirage, and Kaname are looking around Mikumo's room, looking for anything that might be out of place. It didn't take long for them for them to find that Mikumo's clothes were missing. Although, according to Mikumo, there wasn't much to steal, as she only had five or so outfits. That, and Mikumo's room was, unbeknownst to Delta Platoon and Walkure, identical to Shiro's, except for Shiro's mobile armory and Mikumo's wardrobe. Aside from the missing clothes, there wasn't anything of interest, not to any of the girls, anyway. After fifteen or so minutes of searching, they decide to take a break. Kaname turns to Mikumo, who is sitting on her bed, staring off into space.

"Well Mikumo, it looks like we'll have to take you clothes shopping."

"Why can't we just get her old clothes back?" Mirage asks.

"I'd much rather not have to fight with them just to get back a set of clothes that can be easily replaced." Kaname sighs, rubbing her temples.

"I guess this is a good opportunity to go shopping with Mikumo-san. Mirage-san, you could use some clothes too." Freyja chimes.

Mirage stutters for a moment before responding. "I think I'll pass. I'm a pilot, I don't need any more clothes than what's necessary. Besides, I already have a few outfits."

Kaname looks at Mikumo. "Does this not bother you at all, Mikumo?"

Mikumo looks between the three girls before saying her thoughts. "I only got those clothes because Makina and Reina insisted I get some backup clothes, which is strange, considering they just stole them, so, no, this doesn't really bother me. Also, I don't really have a taste in fashion, so I'll need you girls to help me pick clothes. When do we leave?"

"I think we can leave as soon as the guys wrap things up in Shiro's room. I hope they didn't mess with Shiro too. I'm not sure I want to see Shiro angry." Kaname notes.

"Shiro doesn't get upset very easily." Mikumo adds, thinking aloud. "I've only seen him upset once, and that was during the attack three weeks ago."

"What upset him?" Mirage asks.

"I went ahead when he told me to stay put and I almost got choked by one of the attackers." Mikumo states blankly.

"That's not all, is it?" Kaname guesses.

"I also questioned whether he was protecting me because he wanted to or for the money. He was the former."

The three girls look at Mikumo before looking at each other with looks that said, "figures," when someone knocks on the door to the room.

"Are you ladies almost done in there?" Arad's voice sounds through the door.

"We're done here." Kaname responds as she opens the door. The three males walk inside. "It looks like the two decided to steal Mikumo's clothes."

"We don't know why they took her clothes, they didn't leave us a note or anything." Freyja adds.

Shiro picks up a piece of paper off the ground. "I beg to differ, actually."

"Where did that come from?" Kaname asks.

"Did you not see it on the floor when you walked in? It was on the floor in front of the door."

"That wasn't there when we walked in..." Kaname trails off as she looks up to see a small open box on the ceiling.

Everyone else's eyes follow Kaname's trail until they see the box on the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, they find that there is an array of wires and a transparent plate connected to the box. Shiro reaches up and takes the arrangement off the ceiling. The group stares at the mess in Shiro's hand for a minute before Arad speaks up.

"They rigged a system to drop a note after sensing movement through the door twice." Arad states calmly.

"They really put a lot of effort into this." Hayate notes.

"Do they do this often?" Shiro asks, tone betraying neither annoyance nor anger.

"They usually like to play around with us, but they've never done something this...extreme...before." Freyja says.

"They _do_ like to play relationship maker, at least from what I can tell by the last time they did something like this." Mirage adds, remembering the time when the two made her go along with Hayate to get a birthday present for Freyja.

"They're probably trying to get you and Mikumo together." Kaname concludes.

"What does the note say, Shiro?" Arad asks.

"If you're reading this, Shiro, congratulations. You get to go shopping with Kumo-Kumo. Think of this as the favor that you owe us, so get Kumo-Kumo some extra cute clothes. And you can't refuse, because we're working on your Siegfried. So unless you want a hard time with your fighter, you better go get Kumo-Kumo cute clothes." Shiro reads off the note verbatim. He exhales softly.

"Shiro, would this 'favor' be-?"

Shiro rubs the back of his neck before turning to them. "Yes, it is."

"So that's what they're talking about." Kaname says.

"Even so, how did you manage to learn to fly a Valkyrie so quickly?" Mirage asks.

"Yeah, I'd like to know as well. You learned a lot faster than I did, and according to Arad, I learned pretty quickly." Hayate adds.

"That can be answered in due time. For now, I'll just say that I can absorb information very quickly if I'm under enough pressure." Shiro calmly answers.

"Were you really under that much pressure, Shiro?" Mirage asks.

"To be honest, I wasn't, but given my circumstances, I reasoned that my performance might have affected how much training I would have to undergo. In addition to that, I wanted to see how well I would perform in a Variable Fighter dogfight with the odds against my favor."

The three pilots look at each other, then back to Shiro with varying expressions, ranging from interest to increased curiosity to disbelief. Freyja and Kaname look at him with similar expressions of disbelief and curiosity, respectively.

"There's something else that we'd like to know." Mirage says.

"And that is?" Shiro responds.

"The Valkyrie that you flew is considerably lower-spec than the ones we flew. How were you keeping pace with us? Even if you learned that quickly, the fighter shouldn't have been able to keep up."

"I simply flew at the highest possible speed the fighter was capable of. Did you not do the same?"

"Most people aren't able to handle the pressures that come with that high speeds. One of the biggest differences between the Valkyrie that you flew and the ones we flew is that your fighter's cockpit can handle less pressure than ours at high speeds. Did you not feel any pressure during the engagement?"

"Was I supposed to?"

The pilots gape at him while the singers look between him and the pilots, not quite understanding what they were talking about.

"Now then," Arad clears his throat. "There's another thing we'd like to discuss with you ladies about the assault on the Elysion three days ago, except you, Mirage, since you were in the air with us."

Mirage nods, already knowing what Arad had in mind.

"You guys filed a report about the events that took place during the attack, but Captain Ernest and I didn't get a chance to read it, and neither did the rest of Delta Platoon. I hope you guys don't mind recalling all of the events that took place, as there's something we want to clear up with Shiro."

"Like what? The fact that he took out a Destroid with his pistol?" Kaname sarcastically remarks.

"Or the fact that he can deflect bullets with his sword? Freyja adds in a similar tone.

The pilots all turn to Shiro with inquisitive looks while the members of Walkure present simply look at him, obviously wanting him to explain himself. Shiro looks between all of them before exhaling softly.

"Before I say anything, I'd like to know why you all waited to ask me to clarify about my actions during the attack three weeks ago."

"We didn't really have time, given the current state of the Elysion and our financial straits. Also, we were still trying to acquire some intel on the leaders that organized the attack, so after-action reports weren't exactly our top priority. Not to mention, Captain Ernest and I were evaluating the individual that you brought in from Mikumo's operation. I apologize for that, but I think I've made it clear that I want an assessment of your abilities."

"Fair enough, Captain. So far, what Kaname and Freyja have said is true, but I would like to clarify the part about me taking out an artillery unit with my sidearm. First of all, it was already heavily damaged, so it was easier to identify a weak spot that would cause its destruction or disable it. Not to mention, out of the four cannons mounted on it, it was obvious that only one of them was operational, so that made it my immediate target. Also, my sidearm fires high-velocity .50 caliber rounds, which are easily capable of detonating explosive ordnance if it scores a direct hit. In addition to all that, I don't normally attack heavily armored artillery units with just a sidearm, it just so happened that the life of the person I'm supposed to be protecting depended on it, on top of the members of Walkure, the captain of the ship, and myself." Shiro explains, not leaving out the details of his thought process on the matter.

"In that order?" Mikumo asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Who were you thinking about at that moment, Shiro?"

"Is that really important, Mikumo?"

"I'd just like to know."

"Well, to be honest, everyone present on the bridge was on my mind. Which includes you and myself. Does that satisfy you, Mikumo?" Shiro looks at Mikumo.

Mikumo tilts her head slightly before looking away.

"Then what's this about you being able to deflect bullets with your sword? No one we've ever come across has had that ability before." Arad questions.

"The Aerial Knights we fought could dodge one or two shooters at a time, but that was all that we could see them do." Mirage adds.

"I do not know of these 'Aerial Knights,' but I can confirm that I have the ability to deflect bullets with a blade. For now, that is all that I will say." Shiro states. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask me?"

"How do you like your job so far?" Arad asks.

"It's rather similar to my past three years of work as a bodyguard. I haven't really done anything of interest, aside from combat. I do have to admit, you all are much easier to work with than my previous clients. I'm just surprised Walkure hasn't performed yet."

"Why? Were you hoping to see us perform?" Freyja asks.

"It's just a bit curious for a group as popular and famous as you guys to not perform at all in three weeks."

"We've got a concert tomorrow, actually. Didn't Mikumo tell you?" Kaname asks.

Shiro looks at Mikumo with a blank stare, which Mikumo returns. "I was not aware of this," he says, not breaking eye contact with her, "but I'll be sure to keep myself informed, somehow."

"Well," Arad interjects, "you two can finish this later, the girls should go with Mikumo and get her some clothes. I'll take Mirage, since Captain Ernest is calling for us specifically, we don't need you two to be present. Shiro, you and Hayate go with Mikumo and the girls. We don't normally have anyone from Delta Platoon accompany them, aside from Hayate, but you never be too careful."

Shiro nods and Hayate replies with a simple "Yes sir." With that, the group split up; the girls, with Hayate and Shiro in tow, made plans to go down to some of the local clothing stores, while Arad and Mirage went to meet with Ernest.

* * *

 _The Elysion's debrief room_

Ernest and Toland are sitting in the room when Kaname and Arad walk in. Mirage looks at Toland for a moment before turning and sitting next to Arad, who is close to Ernest. The two pilots look at Toland, who meets their eyes for a few seconds before turning his attention to the data pad in front of him. He types quickly for a few minutes while Ernest turns to the two Arad and Mirage, both of whom obviously have questions for their Zentradi captain.

"Captain, what's he doing here?" Arad asks.

Ernest looks at the two. "I don't think you've been properly introduced to this man." Toland looks up at the pilot and the manager. "This is Toland Stein, a bio-engineer and a knowledgeable man about Fold Bacteria. Starting today, he will be working with our research and development branch. I'm only telling you this because I don't want an incident between him and anyone else." Ernest hints.

Mirage takes the hint. "In that case, welcome to Chaos, Mr. Stein."

Arad stays silent but nods at Toland. The latter then taps on the data pad, bringing up multiple files and photos on the large holographic display in the center of the room. One of the photos is of a short man with shaggy blonde hair. The individual is standing next to multiple large crates with the NUNS insignia on them. There are tan-khaki Nightmares in the background, all lined up like they would be on an airstrip.

"I've already explained most of what I've figured out about this man to the Captain, but since you two haven't been briefed, I'll try to include all you need to know. This man, Ob Neghaus, is an arms dealer who somehow has access to military-grade weapons and, as of three weeks ago, Valkyries. I haven't found his source, but it turns out that this man is incredibly powerful, both in influence and manpower. The NUNS either doesn't what to spend the time and effort to deal with him, or he's got contacts within NUNS. Personally, I'm more inclined to believe the latter, but you can believe either one."

"Pardon me for asking, but why are you so intent on helping us with this?" Mirage asks.

Toland takes a deep breath, adjusting his glasses. "I've already contracted with Chaos to work beyond however long it takes to resolve this issue, but this is something I personally want a part in. You see, I used to have a family, and by this man's command, I am the only one that remains."

Mirage didn't push the topic any further.

"I take it that he also ordered the attack on the Elysion a while back?" Arad questions.

Toland nods. "His actions make it extremely plausible that he's in contact with NUNS. There is most likely a political agenda behind his actions. He is familiar with the workings of underground dealings, and he had incredible influence even before he got a hold of these weapons. NUNS needed a man to do their dirty work, and they are easily capable of supplying them with the weapons and ordnance that he now has. So, having said all that, what are your thoughts?"

Arad and Mirage look at each other, then back at Toland. "My thoughts are that we have a lead on the matter. However, unless you know where this guy is, or where he frequents, there's not much we can do other than prepare our defenses. The Elysion's still out of commission, especially with that attack a while back." Arad says.

"The Elysion won't be at combat capacity for another 2 months, at best. Our biggest problem is that the arm unit that connects to the Herrera was completely destroyed during the Battle of Ragna, and we need a shipyard to repair it. Not to mention, a Destroid crashed into the bridge during the attack a while back, so the stage level of the bridge is badly damaged."

"I take it most shipyards are under NUNS control?" Toland asks.

"We don't know which shipyards belong to the sub-factions within NUNS. The Elysion is incredibly vulnerable right now, and we need to get her repaired to combat capacity as soon as possible. We're also short on funding. Normally, we get contracts, and that makes up a large chunk of our budget. Our latest contract to protect the globular cluster has technically ended, so we won't have any revenue after next week, aside from Walkure's concerts."

"Well, as far as I know, Walkure's concerts are immensely popular, so they should raise a significant amount of money. You could also ask for donations towards Chaos, but I don't know how well that would go." Toland suggests.

"I don't think that would go terribly wrong." Kaname says. "With the end of Windermere's war on the NUNS, Chaos has been recognized as the primary force that ended the conflict. The Ragnans are familiar with Chaos, as they have been stationed here for some time now. In addition to that, a lot of our members are well known amongst the locals, so I doubt that they will have any problems donating a small sum of money."

"That's true, not to mention that the Voldorian government was allied with us for the duration of the war, so I think we expect some revenue from them." Arad adds.

"Which leaves us with the problem of repairing the Elysion as soon as possible." Ernest finishes.

"The carrier ships are still operational, correct?" Toland asks.

"The Herrera is only operational for launching fighters within the bounds of Ragna, it took a hit to the bridge during the Battle of Ragna. The Aether is fully operational for any kind of operation. Why do you ask?" Ernest asks.

"I've finished pulling the retrievable data from the chips that were found on my wife's body. It's incomplete, but I know that there's definitely more at my home in Al-Shahal. I need to go back there."

"What was on the chips?" Arad asks.

"Aside from information on the various factions in NUNS, and some personal messages to me from my family, there was an encoded message to me from my wife hinting that there was more information in some form that the cleanup team wouldn't be able to find. I'm certain of it."

"Why would you need the Aether for that?" Ernest asks.

"Don't VFs need a platform to launch off of? As far as I know, the Siegfried and Kairos VFs don't have fold jump capabilities. The shuttles do, but if my suspicions are correct, we're gonna need those fighters."

"What makes you say that?" Arad asks, bothered by his indirect manner of speech.

Toland pauses for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "It turns out that my wife was the lead developer for a fighter with fold-synchronization systems in it, and before she was killed she had deleted all other copies of the schematics, leaving our home with the only remaining schematic. And NUNS really wants it back."

"Why did she delete all of the other plans for the fighter?" Ernest asks.

"She must've thought that they were going to abuse it somehow, or at the very least, she didn't want it in their hands."

"How much data did you get for this fighter?" Arad asks.

"Not much. Just the designation and a few basic specs. Just off of what I've managed to pull out, and comparing its most prominent statistics to every other fighters, this fighter would outclass every fighter in production right now.

"Sounds like NUNS was developing a super-fighter from the sound of it. What can you tell us about it?"

"The project designation is 'X-32,' but it doesn't resemble the VF-22, or the VF-31 at all. In fact, it appears to be of its own design." He displays a projection of a long, sleek fighter with back swept wings, horizontal forward swept tail fins, and identically-shaped vertical tail fins that are angled outward from the tail. The wings are angled downward, while the tail fins form an X-shape from the front view. There are two engines, arranged similarly to the VF-31s, but are significantly larger than the latter's. The cockpit appears to be heavily armored, as the glass canopy is surrounded with what appears to be segmented armor plates. As Toland rotates the 3-D projection of the fighter, it appears that the fighter has a large empty space under the fuselage. However, the gun mounts on the arms of the fighter are noticeably different. The gun pods are completely different from the NUNS gun pod; instead of being rather wide, the gun pods mounted are slim, and noticeably longer.

"Can you bring up a visual comparison to this fighter and ours?" Ernest asks, his eyes scanning the Valkyrie.

As Toland brings up a second 3-D projection of a Siegfried, the size difference between the two fighters becomes obvious; the latter fighter is roughly 2/3 the size of the new fighter in terms of length, and the new fighter is visibly wider in terms of wingspan.

"What kind of firepower can this bird carry?" Arad asks.

"Let's see: two 25mm gun pods, one for each arm. The head unit has two short-ranged beam blasters. Eight cluster missile launchers, four on the main fuselage, four attached to the leg units. It also has space for either two 40mm gun pods, or two railgun pods. Based on how other fighters have been modified with drone attachments, or in your case, super packs, it looks like this fighter is compatible with some super packs as well. It's a bit different than the VF-31s you guys have, though." He pulls up a projection of the various mountable equipment for the fighter, which greatly resembles the super packs of the VF-25 Messiah.

Arad whistles. "That fighter's packing quite the punch."

"If you have this much data on the fighter, what are we missing?" Mirage asks.

"We're missing the data on the fold-synchronization systems, the reactor's output capabilities, testing data, along with AI data." Toland lists out.

"Is there something particularly important about the fighter's AI?" Mirage asks.

"I would assume so, given that information about it is classified beyond my former clearance."

"Ok, so we've established that this Valkyrie is incredibly powerful, and dangerous under the shadow of NUNS. Can we get more information about this fighter or how to acquire it?" Ernest asks.

"We might be able to do both. I just don't know what else is hidden. I have to go back to Al-Shahal; you guys need information about this, and I need a little closure. Does that sound fair?" Toland reasons.

Ernest, Arad, and Mirage all nod.

"We'll make plans to go three days after Walkure's concert tomorrow. We'll get Reina to work with you on this, see if she can pull any more data from those chips, in case we missed something."

"Very well then. If you find her before I do, please send her over to me."

With that settled, they concluded their meeting. For now, all they would do was plan.

* * *

 _Local shopping district, Ragnan market_

Hayate, in his usual azure clothing, is standing by the entrance to the local market. He looks up the moment he feels her presence. He ponders about when he became adept at noticing Freyja before gazing at her clothing. She is wearing a pink mini dress and pink shoes. He had seen her wear this outfit before, but in light of recent events, he found himself both liking and paying attention to whatever his girlfriend wore. He apparently stared a little too long at her, because he suddenly found himself staring into her big emerald eyes.

"What's wrong, Hayate?" Freyja leans forward.

Hayate blinks a couple times, mainly to stop himself from staring at her anymore to the point where she would become uncomfortable. "Uh, nothing, Freyja. You guys just took longer than to get hear than I expected, so I spaced out a bit."

Freyja leans in closer to Hayate. "Are you sure? I didn't think you'd be this eager to go clothes shopping with us." She raises an eyebrow as she put a hand on her hip. "Or is it that you want to see me change clothes?"

"Hoh," Hayate responds, a grin coming onto his face, "What if I do?" He wraps an arm around her and pulls her close, their faces centimeters apart. "Would there be a problem with that?"

Freyja's rune twinkles, a blush coming onto her face. She recovers quickly, wrapping her arms around Hayate's neck. "Well, this isn't quite the right time to do that, not with so many witnesses. Maybe when we're alone, however, I'd be glad to." She gives him her signature grin.

"What would you be glad to do when you're alone with him, Fre-Fre?" The voice of a familiar bubbly mechanic sounds from behind the couple.

Hayate tenses and Freyja yelps and jumps slightly at the same time, causing her head to collide with Hayate's. They both pull away slightly, rubbing their heads before turning to look at Makina. The busty pink-haired singer is wearing a sleeveless pink top, a matching skirt that hovers around her knees, along with a pair of pink sandals.

"I didn't realize you two were planning to do such lewd things behind our backs. You should give Mikumo tips on how to get men like that." Reina, dressed in a black and white striped long shirt, jean shorts, and tennis shoes, appears from behind Makina. "Assuming that Shiro's even straight."

"I neither understand the terminology that you're using, nor do I understand why you're forcing me to go through this." Shiro's stoic voice sounds from behind the four, accompanied by Mikumo and Kaname. The former is wearing her Chaos uniform, the latter is wearing a white sleeveless blouse, black pants, matching flats, and a similarly colored fedora.

"Aw, don't be like that, Shiro." Makina chimes. "Hmm, we should get you some clothes too. You look like a uptight soldier who's off duty but can't relax."

"I would like to point out that I technically _am_ a soldier who happens to be off duty. I also must note that I cannot fully relax because of my role as Mikumo's bodyguard. In addition to all that, purchasing extra clothes for me when we are here to get clothes for Mikumo is a waste of time and resources. You all are just very carefree." Shiro calmly remarks.

Everyone in the group stared at him for a moment before Hayate cleared his throat. Everyone looked at each other, sans Shiro, who didn't have the slightest clue what was wrong with what he had said.

"Shiro, may I ask you something?" Kaname cautiously asks.

"Is there something that I did that bothers you?"

"No, but there's something I have to ask you: Do you know someone named Messer Ihelfield?"

"I do not. Why do you ask?"

"You strongly resemble him."

The group sat in silence for a few moments before Makina chimed in, saying, "Come on guys, there's a sale at one of the nearby stores. We should check it out."

Kaname dropped the subject, putting on a professional smile. "Well, we don't have much time left. We should try to enjoy it."

"We were trying to, but Makina and Reina showed up and ruined our fun." Hayate complains.

"Hmm, and what were you two planning to do when we're not around, Haya-Haya? Makina leans forward, giving the pilot a generous view of her cleavage. Hayate clears his throat and turns off to the side, avoiding direct eye contact with the mechanic.

Freyja notices the interaction between the two and she narrows her eyes slightly, her rune turning a deeper shade of pink. "Makina-san, don't try to seduce Hayate."

"What? I would never do such a thing, Fre-Fre." Makina leans back, her bust bouncing visibly, which was greatly emphasized by her form-fitting top.

Freyja pouts before being grabbed by her boyfriend.

"Don't worry, Freyja. It'll take a lot more than a big rack and a couple flirts to get me away from you." He grins at her.

She returns the grin. "Oh, and why did you avoid looking at her, then?"

He looks at her evenly. "I didn't want you to think I was enjoying the view."

"Were you?"

"No."

Makina, Reina, and Kaname all laugh at the exchange while Mikumo and Shiro stand there, confused as to why the other singers were laughing at them.

"Oh, get a room, you two." Makina giggles.

"Save all that for when you two get married." Reina softly remarks.

"You know, Hayate, you're technically the underage one in the relationship. Although if Freyja gives her consent, I guess it's okay. Just don't have a kid yet." Kaname gives a sly grin to the couple, who are not amused by the teasing.

"Not you too, Kaname-san." Freyja groans as Hayate tucks her into his arms.

"As amusing as this is, I suggest we give Mikumo time to pick out some clothes; it is already two o' clock" Shiro calmly states.

"Alright, alright, we'll get going. Are you going to come with us, Shiro?" Makina happily chimes.

"I will accompany you to the stores of your choosing, but I do not think I will be needed inside."

"Fair enough. Well, let's go." Makina says.

They traveled a short distance to the market, as the clothing stores were closest to the entrance. The girls shopped for a couple hours, and it was rather uneventful. With the exception of a few instances where the girls asked for Hayate's and Shiro's opinions on clothing, the guys didn't do much. Mikumo didn't really pick out her own clothes, as she didn't have much of a fashion sense, opting to let Freyja, Makina, Reina, and Kaname pick her clothes. Kaname made sure that the mechanic and hacker duo didn't steer Mikumo to any of the more suggestive clothing stores, and Freyja helped Mikumo pick out clothes that suited her the best. Hayate followed Freyja around and actually gave her his opinion on her choice of clothing. Shiro stayed a bit further from Mikumo, but was well within speaking distance of her. As soon as they finished, they stopped by a coffee shop to take a break.

"Whew, that didn't take long at all." Makina stretches her arms, leaning back in her chair, unaware of the jaw-dropping effect it had on some of the cafe's male patrons.

"I'd like to go back sometime when Kaname isn't here. You didn't let us have much fun." Reina softly remarks.

"We really need to educate Mikumo about some of the things in life she should avoid, namely anything you two suggest." Kaname sighs.

"Well, we did get a bunch of clothes for Mikumo-san, hopefully you two won't prank her anymore." Freyja agrees.

"What did you two even do with her old clothes?" Hayate questions, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, all we did was move it to Kaname's room." Reina responds, a smug grin on her face.

Kaname, Freyja, and Hayate shoot Reina and Makina looks that suggested they were less than amused, while Mikumo and Shiro gave the two blank stares.

"So, I assume that we're even?" Shiro looks at Makina and Reina.

"I guess so, for now." Reina responds.

"Good. I'd rather not have to do that again, especially seeing that we didn't even need to. Also, please refrain from forcing me into these kinds of situations." Shiro stoically remarks.

Makina shoots Shiro a flirty smile. "Are you sure you don't want to be alone with just us girls?"

Shiro's expression remains dead-panned. "Yes, I'm sure." He checks his phone, given to him by Arad. "Besides, there's something Walkure and Delta Platoon gets to do in half an hour."

"What's that?" Hayate asks.

Shiro looks at the group, his next words giving all of them chills. "You all have hand-to-hand sparring practice with me."

Everyone freezes.

Mikumo is the first to recover. "You mean, we'll have to fight you?"

Shiro looks at her evenly. "Calm down, this first session is only to gauge how well you can defend yourselves against a potential kidnapper, and for Delta Platoon, how well they can handle themselves in a close quarters engagement. Captain Arad already laid out what I can and can't do to you girls, as well as what I should be training you for. The worst you'll walk away with is a bruise and a headache. Well, Walkure, anyway." He looks at Hayate, who is still absorbing his words. "You, on the other hand, along with Mirage and Chuck, are going to have a very rough time."

Hayate breaks into a cold sweat at Shiro's next words. "I haven't repaid you for the little flight training incident. I am well aware that Mirage planned it out, but you didn't seem to have any objections to throwing me head first into an aerial engagement. I would expect anything less than ruptured organs." Shiro states.

Hayate takes a deep breath and looks Shiro straight into the eyes. "Do you have any intention to injure Freyja at all?"

"I would be more concerned about yourself and your fellow pilots."

Hayate's tone becomes more serious. "Answer me."

Shiro remains silent for a moment before doing something unexpected. He smiles slightly at Hayate, an eyebrow raised. "Well, you already exceeded my expectations. You're fiery, yet you don't seem to worry about yourself nearly as much as you do her." He glances at Freyja who is staring between the two males. "To answer your question; No, I do not have any intention to hurt Freyja in the sense of seriously harming her. You should take that determination with you when you spar with me. I'd much like to see how far that determination will take you."

Hayate's tension dissipates at hearing this. "All this time, you've been evaluating us, haven't you? To see our character, the way we work with each other, our motivation, our objectives. You act like you haven't been doing anything for the past couple weeks, yet you're able to understand us well enough as though you've been with us for months."

The girls all look between Hayate, who they didn't realize could be this perceptive, and Shiro, who they still had various doubts about. Shiro, for the most part was actually impressed with the young pilot. He didn't let it show, but he was looking forward to testing him.

"Well, you're quite perceptive. I admit, I did want to know what kind of people I was working with; I was hoping you wouldn't be as undisciplined as I originally thought you were. If only you weren't so carefree and lazy." Shiro stoically remarks.

The mood completely lost all of its tension at this.

"Pfftt, jeez Shiro, you're so harsh!" Freyja barely manages as she laughs.

Hayate frowns and exhales. "Wow, you totally killed the mood there, Shiro."

"Shiro, you don't need to act like we don't take our job seriously." Makina and Reina giggle simultaneously.

"You really resemble him, Shiro." Kaname softly remarks, a small smile on her face, her expression reminiscent.

Mikumo looks at Shiro evenly, her expression unreadable. Shiro looks back at her, their eyes meeting. They stare at each other for a moment before a buzzing sound grabs Kaname's attention. Turning to her purse, she pulls out her communicator.

"Kaname, are you and the girls finished shopping?" Mirage's voice sounds through the device.

"We are. Is there something important?"

"Well, we need Walkure and Delta Platoon to report back to the Elysion by 4:45." Mirage responds, her tone akin to Hayate's a minute ago.

"What's wrong, Mirage? You sound distressed."

There is a pause before Mirage responds. "I hope you're ready for a beat down, because we all have a sparring session with Shiro."

Kaname looks at the group, their gazes flickering to Shiro before back at Kaname. "We were made aware of this. We'll be on our way back now."

"Don't worry about it too much," Arad's voice coming through the communicator, "I already have the medical personnel on standby near the sparring area, and Shiro promised he would limit the broken bones to just Delta Platoon."

The call ended there, leaving the group looking at each other with any shred of confidence they had gone with the evening wind.

* * *

Sorry for the long delay in posting, things have just come up and took up my otherwise free time. Also, this chapter was a bit longer than all the others, so I hope that's some kind of consolation. Anyways, I appreciate all of you who followed the story, and even more so those who leave comments and criticism. See you all later!


	10. Chapter 10

_The Elysion, exercise area_

Mirage and Arad are standing by the marked ring where they were about to spar with the most fearsome man they had come to know. Ernest is standing off to the side, with the intent of observing the match. As Arad said earlier, there was a large medical team posted in the back, with nine stretchers in the event someone or everyone was incapacitated.

The two pilots are wearing t-shirts and exercise pants, although Mirage's only reaches her knees. Arad checks his watch, about to dial the rest of Delta Platoon and Walkure when they walk in, sans Shiro.

"Where's Chuck?" Arad asks.

"Right here, sir!" Chuck replies as he walks in.

Arad stretches his arm a bit. "So, are you all ready?"

"Tch. Ready to get pounded to the ground? Yeah." Hayate fumes.

"Calm down, Hayate. It's not like the Captain wants us to get beat up; we just need a little more combat practice on the ground." Mirage responds.

"You didn't hear Shiro, Mirage." Hayate sighs, "He's not exactly happy that you guys threw him head-first into an aerial battle with basically no experience."

"Even though we did help him out, it doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure out that Shiro's probably going to return the favor to you guys." Makina rubs her neck.

"I just hope he doesn't leave all of you in comas or something." Reina softly remarks.

"I don't think he'll do anything on that level." Mikumo states. "I admit, it scares me a bit to think about what Shiro would do when he's angry, but I'm pretty sure you'll at most be knocked unconscious a few times."

Everyone looks at Mikumo, their gazes all skeptical or defeated. The violet-haired singer was completely oblivious as to why they were all looking at her the way they were. They stared at her for a few moments as Shiro walks in, carrying a duffel bag.

"Is there something I need to be made aware of?" Shiro emotionlessly asks, noticing everyone's gaze locked on Mikumo, who is standing there.

"No, you just missed a confidence booster from Mikumo." Chuck sighs.

"Good, maybe then you'll all last a bit longer." Shiro replies, ignoring their sarcasm.

The pilots looked miffed at Shiro's blunt response, while the singers of Walkure can only dread what they know is to come.

"So then, I guess to start off, I'll evaluate Delta Platoon in a one on one fight; then I'll see how all of you fare against me. Walkure will spar with me once I'm finished with Delta Platoon." Shiro explains, taking off his jacket, revealing a form-fitting grey t-shirt underneath.

Mikumo stared at his arms, and a flurry of thoughts crossed her mind: What scars might he have on his torso, if his arms were this badly scarred? How much combat has he endured? What could possibly scar a man with this level of combat proficiency? As her mind raced through all of these questions, her eyes focused on something else: there was a large slash mark that ran around the side of his neck, and it seemed to span the diameter of his neck. Mikumo's eyes widened as she processed all this. None of the others seemed to notice that scar, that or they didn't show it.

Her designated protector was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. He must've seen all kinds of combat, and survived horrible things. And she was about to spar with him in hand-to-hand combat.

"Now then, which among you would like to go first?" Shiro stoically asks.

The members of Delta Platoon look between each other and back at Shiro. Hayate steps forward.

"I'll be your first opponent." Hayate looked serious, and he was. In the back of his mind, however, he was extremely nervous. A voice calms his nerves.

"Hayate?" Freyja softly calls.

He looks over at his girlfriend. Her face tells him that she's scared, mostly for him. Her eyes are wide with concern. He can't help but smile at her, caressing her cheek gently.

"Don't worry. It's like Mikumo said; I'll only be knocked unconscious a few times." He grins.

Freyja pouts. "That's not encouraging at all!"

Hayate laughs. "Yeah, I know, but it's fine. I'm pretty sure I had this coming for a while now anyway. Make sure you watch, so you don't end up like me."

She nods.

"Why do you make it sound like you're being shipped off to die?" Shiro calmly asks.

"Because it sure feels that way." Hayate shoots back, a grin on his face.

Shiro raises an eyebrow. "Don't worry, your superiors are going to have it much worse." He looks at Mirage and Arad, who stiffen under his gaze.

"Don't." Hayate says, his gaze leveled at Shiro.

"Well, then, shall we get started?" Shiro asks, rolling his shoulders.

"How is this gonna work? Are you just gonna punch me until I drop?" Hayate asks.

"What would be the point of that? We're here to evaluate how well you hold up in a melee engagement. If I did that, you wouldn't learn anything and neither would I."

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"We will spar for about five minutes. In that time, try to land a direct hit on me, or at least stay conscious. Naturally, I will be holding back, but you should not be. So, attempt to hit me however you wish. Think of this situation as though you were fighting another person, not me."

"Implying that taking a hit from you wouldn't outright kill me." Hayate remarks as he takes a fighting stance.

 _That appears to be a boxing stance. He isn't well trained, that or he has never been in a melee engagement before._

"Whatever motivates you. If that doesn't however, I will find another way," Shiro calmly states, looking at Freyja and Mirage.

"Don't even think about it." Hayate growls.

"Then show me what you're capable of."

Hayate then charges at Shiro, putting all of his power in his punch. Shiro catches his fist, tossing it aside and knocking Hayate back. Hayate gets up quickly, and charges at Shiro again. The latter pushes his palm out as Hayate gets within arm's reach, knocking Hayate to the floor. The cycle repeats another three times before Shiro hits Hayate hard enough to send him to the edge of the marked ring, just in front of Freyja and Mirage.

"You need to figure out another method of attacking someone other than just throwing yourself at them. You're not fighting like you're on even ground. You're fighting as though your only objective is to slow me down, which is not what we're here for."

"Well sorry, but it's kinda hard to ignore the fact that we really aren't."

"Think of it this way: You can't simply slow me down, you need to put me out of commission, or else the people you hold dear will suffer."

Hayate looks as though he was about to say something back, but he closes his mouth and exhales softly. "Fine."

He takes up the same fighting stance as before. He rushes at Shiro, but instead of making a beeline at him, he dashes back and forth in a diagonal line, his fist cocked back. Once he gets close enough to Shiro to hit him, he punches Shiro, his head the target. Shiro leans back, grabbing Hayate's outstretched arm and tosses him over his back. Hayate rolls for a second, but soon gets back up and charges again. Shiro throws a punch that Hayate barely manages to dodge. Hayate rolls to the side and behind him, forcing Shiro to rotate to face him. Shiro swings his arm in a wide arc, nailing Hayate in the head, knocking him off to the side. Hayate jumps up and dodges Shiro's punch before ducking. Hayate punches Shiro square in the chest, but to the shock of every everyone else in the room, Shiro doesn't budge an inch. The moment that Hayate landed the blow on Shiro, a buzzer sounds.

 _So Hayate's style is to charge in and force his opponent to absorb his blows , but he needs improvement on his accuracy and he's too predictable. Otherwise acceptable performance._

"Not bad, Hayate. You actually managed to land direct hit on me within the time limit. Good job."

Hayate sighs before leaning over and groaning. "Man, you hit hard. Are you sure you were holding back?"

"If I wasn't, you'd be unconscious with at least half your ribs broken. You'd also be unable to dodge my punches. I heard that Delta Platoon does air shows during Walkure's concerts, so I need you to be able to fly during those, especially since I have yet to practice for performing them. I also heard that you're quite popular in the air shows due to your...maneuvering skills."

"You've got to be kidding me. Ugh, at least we're even now, right?"

"Not quite, but next time, you won't have to worry about taking as many blows as you did, assuming you learned something."

"Yeah, I definitely learned something from this." Hayate groans, standing up.

"Now then, who will be next?"

Mirage steps forward. She takes a deep breath. "I'll be your next opponent."

"Very well then. Follow the same procedure Hayate did."

Mirage nods and takes up a fighting stance that Shiro recognized.

 _A Judo stance. She must have trained more extensively than Hayate._

"Before we start, I'd like to ask you something."

"Which is?"

"Were you the one that had me thrown headfirst into an aerial dogfight?

Mirage tenses, her eyes widening for a moment. "Is that still bothering you?"

Shiro stretches his neck slightly. "No, I just needed to confirm who's brainchild that idea was. Now I know."

Mirage stops for a moment and becomes lost in thought. In that time frame, she loosened her posture, and she didn't even notice Shiro walk up to her until he was standing a couple feet from her. She snaps to focus, and tries to distance herself from Shiro, but she does so too late. Shiro grabs her arm, and throws her to the center of the ring. Mirage gets up and tries to ready herself, but Shiro doesn't let up. He sweeps his leg at her ankle, knocking Mirage on her back. Mirage groans before sitting up.

 _She's too distracted to even fight. It was too easy to get inside her head and make her lose focus._

"You need to clear your head before you fight; don't let your opponent get inside your head." Shiro calmly criticizes.

Mirage rubs her head. "You're not the first to tell me that. Anything else I need to be aware of?"

"No, that is it. Again."

Mirage gets up, taking a deep breath and exhaling softly. She distances herself from Shiro before taking up the same stance as she did before. Her eyes are locked on Shiro, her expression unreadable. She runs at Shiro, going for a low sweeping kick. Shiro kicks her leg up, causing Mirage to land on her back. Shiro brings his arm down, but Mirage rolls to the side and aims a punch at Shiro. Shiro dodges the punch and grabs Mirage's arm and tosses her towards the edge of the ring. She dashes toward Shiro, aiming a high kick at his head. Shiro ducks below it, but Mirage brings her elbow down immediately after missing her kick. She grazes Shiro, and follows up with a sweeping kick. Shiro grabs her leg and throws her on the floor. Mirage lets out a pained sound as Shiro aims his fist at her head. She flinches, expecting to be knocked out as she hears an impact sound next to her. She opens one eye, seeing Shiro on top of her, his arm off to the side her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees his first on the ground next to her; there is a small dent on the floor. She gulps nervously at this before her eyes meet Shiro's. He looked as stoic as ever, but he didn't seem to be as critical as he was a few minutes ago.

 _She didn't last as long as Hayate did, but her skills are definitely more refined than Hayate's. She will most likely be easier to train than Hayate._

"That was much better. You are much more effective when you're not distracted." Shiro calmly states as he gets up from on top of Mirage.

"I suppose so." She groans as she sits up. "Do you like throwing people, Shiro? Because you seem to do that a lot."

"Not really. Normally, I'd put distance between my opponent and myself by putting more force in my punches, but that usually results in a broken rib or so. Obviously, I can't do that to you guys. Not yet, anyway."

"Well, that's always encouraging." Kaname sighs.

Mirage deadpans. "So, how hard are you hitting us compared to how you'd fight someone for real?"

"If I were to put it on a scale from one to ten, you guys would probably be a one. Walkure would have to be below one, most likely."

Everyone gapes at him. The members of Walkure couldn't take offense to what he said, especially after seeing Shiro essentially playing with some of their best pilots. The pilots of Delta Platoon mentally dread the sparring sessions that they knew were imminent in the future.

"Well, now the matter's settled, would you like to continue to practice, or would you like to switch out?"

"I thought you said you wanted to evaluate us?"

"I already have. It doesn't take me long to evaluate you in a sparring match."

Mirage rubs the back of her head. "I think I'll switch out for now, my head's spinning."

"Very well then."

"You sure work quickly, Shiro. It's almost scary how efficient you are." Arad comments.

"Would it be better if I was comfortably inefficient?" Shiro questions.

"Is that a legitimate question or are you just being sarcastic?" Chuck asks.

"It's a mix of both. I won't sacrifice efficiency just to make everyone happy, but if Arad or Captain Ernest deems my training too rigorous, I will adjust myself accordingly." Shiro calmly answers.

Arad sighs. "I was joking, Shiro. You're doing just fine, as long as no one sustains serious injuries, you keep doing what you're doing."

"If that's the case, then would either you or Chuck step into the ring for your evaluation?"

Chuck exhales. "I guess I'm next. You already whipped me in our last engagement, so go easy on me, will ya?"

"I will test you on the level that I tested Mirage and Hayate." Shiro emotionlessly states.

Chuck gulps and steps into the ring. Everyone watches the fight with curiosity. No one had seen Chuck fight hand-to-hand, but they knew he had strength. His well-defined arms and legs were clear indicators of it. Chuck readied himself, taking up a considerably different stance, compared to Mirage's. His arms were brought up, as if to block, except Chuck's torso was tilted in comparison to Shiro's. His body posture was also at a lower height than Mirage's and Hayate's. Shiro struggled to identify what the Ragnan's first move would be. Chuck leaned forward slightly, and charged straight at Shiro at a speed Shiro did not quite expect. The moment he neared Shiro, Chuck cocked his arm back and put all of his strength in his punch. His aim was true, as Shiro didn't deflect or catch his fist, opting to block it instead. The impact moved Shiro back a couple feet.

 _He's far stronger than the other two pilots, in terms of sheer strength. In addition, he's more agile than one would think, which makes it easy to underestimate him. He's also created his own style of fighting, making it difficult to predict his movements. I'll probably have to let him take the initiative to learn his movements._

Chuck backed off, putting distance between him and Shiro. He assumed the same stance, and began to circle Shiro. Shiro followed the circling pilot with his degree of vision until Chuck circled out of it, not bothering to move his head. Chuck circled Shiro until he was behind and slightly to the left of the bodyguard, pausing for a moment. After a few seconds, Chuck charges at Shiro, the latter turning to grab the charging Ragnan. Right as he neared Shiro, Chuck pushes himself to the right with a surprising amount of agility, dodging Shiro's grab. He aims another high-powered punch at Shiro, who blocks the punch and pushes Chuck back.

They stood there for a few moments. Shiro stood there, waiting for Chuck to make the next move, but Chuck stood there, motionlessly staring at Shiro as he took up the same stance as before.

"What's wrong, Shiro? Aren't you going to make a move?" Chuck taunts lightly.

Shiro tilts his head. "I was under the impression that you would move first."

"And why is that?"

"Because I know that you're trying to stall so you can learn my fighting style."

Chuck's face falls before he grins softly. "You really are something else, Shiro. I guess it's pointless to keep stalling, huh?"

"It would be. Aside from that, is that how you would fight in a melee combat scenario?"

"Yeah, I get it's a bit strange, but I feel it works best for me."

"There's nothing wrong with it, I just thought it would be difficult to keep that up."

"It's not; I actually feel most comfortable doing this."

"If that's the case, then I should probably take you a bit more seriously." Shiro remarks.

"Shall we finish this?" Chuck asks, already knowing the outcome.

"Indeed. Show me what you're capable of."

Chuck dashes towards Shiro with an impressive burst of speed from pushing off the ground. Right as he nears Shiro, he ducks low and attempts an uppercut at Shiro's chin. Shiro dodges to his left, and kicks Chuck in the shoulder, knocking him off balance. Chuck quickly recovers, rolling into a kneeling position before charging straight at Shiro. He aims his fist at Shiro's head, but before he can make contact with Shiro's head, the bodyguard moves faster than Chuck anticipated, doing a backflip and kicking Chuck's abdomen in the process. Chuck lands halfway out of the sparring ring on his face, right in front of Walkure.

Chuck groans as he rolls over to see the girls looking down on him.

"Are you okay, Chuck-san?" Freyja's concerned expression makes him grin.

"Don't worry, I've definitely been through worse." Chuck responds.

"That look like it hurt." Mikumo states blankly.

"That was an impressive performance, Chuck." Kaname kneels down to give him a water bottle, which he gratefully takes.

"You lasted a lot longer than Mira-Mira and Haya-Haya, Chuck. Good job." Makina chimes bubbly.

"I didn't know you were capable of going that fast or hitting that hard. I think you actually made Shiro try a bit." Reina adds.

"Indeed he did." Shiro confirms from the ring. "You were thinking, planning, executing, all while you were fighting me. I see why you're Delta Platoon's tactician."

"Wait, what about us?" Mirage asks.

"I thought I did pretty well." Hayate says.

"Both of you exceeded my expectations. However, that doesn't mean your skills are good enough as is. Chuck so far is the only one that I have some confidence in to emerge successful from a hand-to-hand engagement." Shiro calmly states.

Hayate and Mirage frown at each other, before back at Shiro.

"I take it that means we'll be getting extra attention from you during our practice sessions?" Mirage timidly asks.

"That much, you can expect."

"Having said that, I would like to ask you something, Chuck."

"Ask away, Shiro." Chuck responds.

"You fought with an impressive level of stamina. How did you attain such a level of endurance?"

"Well, as you can probably tell, I'm one of the locals here on Ragna. I swam a lot as a child and I still do, so I guess that would be where all my energy comes from."

"How far can you swim without getting exhausted?"

"On a regular basis, probably ten to fifteen miles, depending on current."

"Hmm, thank you for this information. I might just put it to good use," Shiro thinks aloud, looking at Hayate and Mirage. The two pilots' eyes widen at what they think Shiro might be considering.

"Oh, fuck. I hope he doesn't make us swim that far. I don't think I can do five miles." Hayate estimates softly.

"He can't do that, can he?" Mirage near silently asks back.

"I'll have to ask Arad if I can extend my training jurisdiction." Shiro says, directing his eyes to the two pilots, who pale at Shiro's gaze.

"Just don't go overboard, Shiro. You can't expect us to compete with Chuck over here. He'll always have the advantage in that kind of exercise." Arad states.

"I have no intention of doing so. If anything, I'll probably be more intensive with Chuck than the three of you, so don't worry about that."

"Okay then. So I guess it's my turn to jump in the fire?"

"I believe the term is 'the frying pan?'"

Arad chuckles softly before stepping in the ring. "Don't expect anything crazy out of me. I may be in good shape for my age, but I'm not as young as the rest of Delta Platoon."

Shiro nods. "I'll take that into account."

Arad cracks his neck before assuming a judo stance, similar to Mirage's.

 _He must have been the one that trained Mirage. I estimate that he'll last longer, but won't be as flexible as Mirage, physically and mentally. This may get interesting._

"I assume you want the same thing out of me that you want out of the others?" Arad asks as he swings at Shiro.

"Not quite," Shiro responds as he counters Arad with a punch on his own. "I want to see how long you can hold up in an extended melee engagement."

"You're not still upset about the whole flight training incident, are you?" Arad asks as he blocks Shiro's punch, the action moving him back a few feet.

"I'm not entirely upset, just curious if that's how you train all of your pilots." Shiro kicks off his leg and and performs a mid sweeping kick at Arad's torso.

Arad is caught off guard by the sudden burst in speed leading to the attack. He takes the blow, tumbling toward the edge of the ring before getting up. "Man, you really hit hard. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to kill me."

"That is not my objective. Besides, I did promise not to do anything that could be perceived as aggressive," Shiro says as he grabs Arad's arm and throwing him over his back, putting Arad back in the center of the ring.

"Your actions and your words don't belong together, Shiro." Arad chuckles as he unleashes a flurry of punches at Shiro.

"Well, they would if we weren't sparring right now." Shiro replies as he blocks and deflects Arad's punches.

After the umpteenth punch, Arad begins to slow down his punches, and opportunity Shiro did not pass up. He grabs Arad's shoulders and uses them to flip over Arad. He lands behind Arad, and before Arad can turn around, he punches Arad square in the back, sending the senior pilot skidding to the edge of the ring, in front of Delta Platoon.

"Ungh, I think I might be getting too old for this." He groans as he rolls over to face his subordinates.

"Captain, you're in your mid-thirties." Mirage states blankly.

"Technically, I'm 38, an age most guys retire." Arad sits up.

"You don't plan on retiring anytime soon." Hayate adds, giving him a water bottle.

"No, but I should get _some_ slack, right?"

"No." The pilots respond simultaneously.

"You guys are cold." Arad chuckles softly before standing up and walking over to the wall.

"Perhaps it's better that they are," Shiro says, grabbing a water bottle from his duffel bag, "that way, you can keep performing at your peak. That aside, you performed very well, you just need to improve your reactivity."

Arad sighs. "Yeah, I know. They've still got ways to go though, haven't they?"

Shiro looks at Hayate and Mirage, who tense up at his gaze. "They need a lot of work. I'm not certain I can get them up to your standards. It depends on how much time we have."

"Don't worry about it. Now that we've had our practice, I believe it's Walkure's turn now." Arad turns to the singers, who fidget nervously, aside from Mikumo, who seems distant.

"Mikumo. It's our turn to spar with Shiro now." Kaname's voice grabs Mikumo's attention, the latter blinking a couple times and turning to face the group.

"Oh, right." Mikumo absentmindedly responds.

"There is one thing I'd like to make clear before we start." Shiro begins. "The point of me sparring with you girls is to train you all in self defense, should the need for you to defend yourselves without us arise. However, there are some things I cannot prepare or train you for. I'm sure you're all aware of some of the things that may happen should you be captured and held hostage." He looks at all of them to make sure they understand. After confirming their understanding, he continues. "I believe this goes without saying, but just in case one of you forgets, if you are faced with the decision between engaging a hostile and escaping, you need to pick the latter. To be blunt, no amount of physical training can ensure that you can fight on even ground with a soldier, so don't do anything of the sort, understood?"

They all nod.

"Good. Your training is going to be different from Delta Platoon's. While their objective is engage and defend you girls, your objective is to survive and evade. To train you girls, we're going to play a game of sorts, if you want to call it that. Near the Elysion's current location, there is a forest along a cliffside. At the end, there is a marked point at which I want all of you to reach. Your objective for this is to resist capture from a search group and make it to the point."

"Wait, who's going to be in the search group?" Freyja asks.

"I will select two other members from Delta Platoon to be in the search group, alongside myself."

"Wait, what?" Hayate stops to process the information.

"Half of Delta Platoon is going to act as a search party attempting to search for Walkure. The other half will stay at the point, to receive any members of Walkure that reach the point. The search party members are allowed to "capture" a member of Walkure should they find one; to capture, all they do is restrain them in a manner where they can't move for five seconds. If the member of Walkure escapes within five seconds of being pinned, they can continue to advance towards the point. If not, then the member of Delta Platoon that captured the member of Walkure will bring her to a designated point. For you to succeed, you must either evade capture for an hour, or make it to the rendezvous point."

"It's going to be dark soon, how are we supposed to reach the point through a forest in the dark?" Reina asks.

"I will provide you all with basic supplies: a canteen of water, a small first aid kit, and a compass. Some of you will get flashlights, others will get batteries. If you manage to link up with another member of Walkure, you can give the batteries to the one who has the flashlight. You will all start off in different locations, but the endpoint does not move." Shiro explains as he hands out the basics. He hands Makina a couple batteries, Reina a flashlight, Freyja one battery and a flashlight, and Kaname a single battery. He gives nothing to Mikumo. "For this particular exercise, we will be operating as if we have no communications available."

"What do we do if we get in trouble?" Freyja asks.

"There's a whistle attached to the compass, but only use it if you're in mortal danger."

"Who's going to be at the rendezvous point, and who's going to be the search party?" Kaname asks.

"I will only disclose that to Delta Platoon. You have five minutes to prepare yourselves. There are two shuttles on the flight deck of the Aether, one for Walkure and one for Delta Platoon. We will leave around the same time, but we will not be able to see each other's drop locations."

Having said all that, Shiro and Delta Platoon go to the back of the room, while Walkure goes to the flight deck of the Aether.

* * *

 _Six minutes later, the flight deck of the Aether_

"So that's it, huh?" Hayate frowns.

"I should've figured he'd do this." Mirage sighs.

"Well, I can't say he's not doing a good job so far." Chuck notes.

"Yeah, at least everything he's doing is relevant to them and our line of work." Arad states.

"I'll be honest, I definitely didn't see this coming." Kaname says.

"Me neither. If we were doing this two months ago, I'd think it was pointless, but now, not so much." Reina agrees.

"I'm still not totally up for this, but I see why we're doing it." Freyja notes.

"Well, at least we're not going to get beat up like you guys did." Makina chides, looking at the pilots.

"Don't hold your breath." Chuck looks back at the singers. "If you're not careful, you might end up on Shiro's bad side."

"I'd rather you not put bad ideas in their minds, Chuck." Shiro's voice cuts through the atmosphere. "I'm here with the purpose of training them in whatever way I can. I've read the reports from when you attempted an operation into Windermere. Which, needless to say, was a serious failure. Mikumo got captured, and Makina was wounded by a sniper. Even though things worked out in the end, you can't simply leave it to chance that things will work out."

"You seem extra serious about this. Is this something that you personally find important?" Mikumo asks, her crimson eyes locked on Shiro, who is organizing equipment on the shuttle.

Shiro pauses for a second. "In a way, yes. Just do me a favor, and actually take this seriously. I'm incredibly skilled, but there are some things I cannot do; protecting you girls while I'm not in your vicinity is one of them. I cannot guarantee that I'll always be there to protect you girls."

Shiro's answer seemed solid to the pilots who were listening to him, but to Walkure, it only raised more questions. What each of the singers questioned, however, was a totally different story. Naturally, it seemed a bit suspicious to Kaname for Shiro to be as concerned as he was over their safety; Makina and Reina thought it a bit strange for the man who rarely showed emotion to be so intense over training. Freyja and Mikumo both thought that Shiro knew more than he was letting on. That, or he had his own reason for becoming Mikumo's protector.

"Is everyone ready?" Arad asks.

The group members look between each other, then back at Arad.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Hayate answers.

"Good. Walkure, you're on shuttle one. Delta Platoon, you're on shuttle two. Good luck to everyone." Shiro calmly says.

With that everyone boarded their respective shuttles, and they took off. Shuttle two took off first, followed shortly by shuttle one.

* * *

 _Shuttle two_

Shiro opens his duffel bag, checking the contents.

"Hey Shiro." Hayate calls out.

Shiro closes the bag and looks up at Hayate. "Yes, Hayate?"

"Did you have a particular reason to assigning me and Mirage to marking the rendezvous point?"

"Not anything special. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. It seemed like you meant to separate everyone."

"That's pretty much the point of the exercise. This is to simulate a scenario where Walkure gets shot down over enemy lines, and has to evade capture from a hostile party. Last time this happened, it didn't end very well for some of them, or you, for that matter. You, Mirage, and Freyja were almost executed; although you were able to get into your Siegfrieds and escape, you can't rely on luck or chance to save yourselves. You'll eventually meet a painful death if you do, or worse yet, people that you care about will." Shiro's words weighed heavily on the pilot.

"You sound like the voice of experience." Mirage softly interjects.

Shiro turns to look at them out of the corner of his eye, a slight grimace visible. "I really wish I wasn't."

"Have you had people close to you die for similar reasons?" Arad asks.

The other three pilots stare at their squad leader, somewhat taken aback by his blunt question.

"C-Captain." Mirage and Chuck both stutter.

Shiro holds his hand up, drawing their attention before sitting in his seat. "I've lost a good number of people, people I considered family, for one of two reasons. One, they were too careless or stupid to stop themselves from screwing up when it mattered most. They were akin to Hayate and Freyja; they were very capable and skilled, but more often than not, they wouldn't always bring their best to battle. They were had an 'all-or-nothing' mentality, and for a while, it worked out fine. They thought it would always be, and they paid for it. That's why I abhor people with carefree mentalities. I can't tell if they know when to take things seriously, and I can't trust them for that. I'm well aware that you put forth your best effort in battle, Hayate, but you can't wait to be in battle to take things seriously. You need to try your best whenever it's applicable, whether it be training exercises, or in battle. Let me tell you now, it's not a pleasant feeling to watch someone die for reasons that could have easily been avoided."

Hayate looks down for a minute before looking back at Shiro. "I fully understand what you're trying to tell me, Shiro, really, I do; it's just that, I want Freyja to enjoy the rest of her life, and I want to be there for her, wherever, whenever, lest I be the reason she can't be happy."

"How does that relate to your efforts?" Shiro asks, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Freyja doesn't have as long a lifespan as regular people. She's from Windermere, and Winderemereans only live to about 30 years old; most don't even make it that far. The fact of the matter is, she's already showing signs of aging, and she's only 15." Hayate grits his teeth as he grimaces.

"And there isn't a simple solution to this; otherwise you would've already tried it?" Shiro assumes.

"Yeah."

"This is a curious topic, as this is the first I have ever heard of this. Is Windermere a hostile planet?"

"No, it's really cold, but we've all been there, and nothing stood out to me as particularly hostile. Maybe the local wildlife, but I don't know about anything else."

"So you don't know much about the issue, and even less about the solution."

Hayate nods.

Shiro looks out the window. "Well, that problem aside, you need to know when and where to put forth extra effort. Sometimes you just need to take a step back and evaluate the whole situation, and determine what you need to do, and how to go about doing it."

"Something tells me you learned all this the hard way." Hayate softly mutters to himself.

"You have no idea." Shiro returns at an equally quiet tone.

* * *

 _Shuttle one_

Mikumo stares blankly at her pack, which has nothing but the basic supplies that were handed out by Shiro. She takes out the first aid kit and opens it.

"What're you thinking about, Kumo-Kumo?" Makina asks in her usual bubbly tone.

"Do you think Shiro's being hard on you?" Reina asks.

"No, not at all. It's just...strange." Mikumo absentmindedly responds.

"What is?" The duo asks.

"Shiro gave me a first aid kit with a knife and flare in it." Mikumo says, gazing at the blade of the knife.

"Why did he do that? None of ours have those two items in it, do they?" Kaname asks, checking her kit.

The other girls check their kits to confirm the presence of the items in question, and after a minute they close their respective packs.

"I don't have those."

"Me neither"

"Same here."

"I guess he's giving you special treatment?"

Mikumo inspects the knife's blade closer, seeing an engraved text on the back edge of the blade. She couldn't read the text, so she put the knife away, closing her kit. "I suppose there's no use worrying about it now."

At that moment, an alarm sounds, drawing their attention.

"We can't be at the drop zone already, we've been flying for barely two minutes." Makina says, tensing up.

"That's the lock-on alarm. Someone's locked on to our shuttle!" Kaname yells as the blaring intensifies.

"Walkure! Brace for impact!" The pilot yells over his shoulder.

Right after he finishes, there are a flurry of faint whizzing sounds, followed by the shattering of glass. Mikumo looks in horror at the cockpit's glass, which is riddled with cracks and holes, some of which have red splatter marks on them. An explosion rocks the shuttle, the frame groaning and straining from the impact. The shuttle suddenly dives sharply, sending the girls flying and hitting the walls of the shuttle. They all grab the nearest sturdy shuttle part to steady themselves.

"What just happened?!" Freyja yells as she grabs the bar on the roof of the shuttle.

"The pilot's dead!" Mikumo raises her voice to be heard over the scream of the shuttle going down.

"Who's attacking us?!" Makina yells as she grabs an unconscious Reina and braces herself and Reina against the wall of the shuttle.

"I don't know! This wasn't the plan! Everyone, stick together and brace-" Kaname doesn't finish as the shuttle is suddenly ripped in half down the middle.

The shuttle crashes in two different locations, each half leaving a scorched trail of scraps and twisted chunks of metal amidst the trunks of trees decimated by the crash. Off in the distance, the Elysion is ravaged by a series of explosions, running up the leg units. The turret mounts detonate, parts raining down into the ocean bed where the Elysion is resting. The 'torso' of the Elysion sinks lower as the leg units of the Macross unit crumble. The Aether and the Herrara sink into the water up to their mid-lines.

* * *

 _Three minutes later, somewhere in the forest_

Mikumo staggers as she carries an unconscious Freyja. She manages to gently lower Freyja before collapsing. She coughs up a bit of blood as she lies on the ground, agonizing pain coursing through her body.

"Thanks for the knife, Shiro. It really came in handy." Mikumo softly groans before collapsing.

* * *

Hey guys, hope you enjoy the story so far! This chapter is now the longest so far, but I'm 90% sure they'll get longer, so I hope that makes the readers that wanted longer chapters happy. Anyways, leave a review, and see you all later!


	11. Chapter 11

_15 Minutes earlier, outside the reactor room of the Elysion_

Two men in green mechanic suits are pushing a large crate towards the door, which is guarded by two men in tactical armor. Both guards are armed with a modified Chaos assault rifle. One of the guards looks up at the sound of wheels rolling along the metal floor.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" The guard barks, alerting the other guard, who was spacing out.

"We're just delivering parts to the guys inside." One of the mechanics replies.

"We're on the schedule, if you want to check for yourselves." The other nonchalantly says.

The now awake guard looks over to his partner, who nods at him. He pulls out a data pad while the other keeps his firearm level with the two men delivering the crate.

"You guys are on the schedule." The guard confirms.

"See, I told you we were-"

"Except that Captain Ernest specifically stated that all _legitimate_ deliveries should arrive at their intended locations 30 to 45 minutes before their scheduled delivery time. You're 45 minutes **_late_**." The guard narrows his eyes at the men and the container they were escorting.

"That, and there's no one inside the room behind us. The last of the techs left 15 minutes ago. You can't hold a position in this organization if you can't be remotely punctual." The other guard growls, cocking his rifle.

Before the guards can act, one of the men throws a cylindrical canister, which emits a blinding white flash. The guards stagger, and in that time, the two men pull out sidearms and shoot the two guards until the stop moving.

"Ray, you think they heard any of that?" One of the men says as he runs toward the door panel.

The man now identified as Ray swears. "I don't fucking care, the guard was right; we're off schedule. Get that door open, CJ. We need to move our asses, now."

CJ furiously types into the door panel for a few seconds before the door slides open. "Got it. Get the payload to the reactor, now."

"Which one is it?" Ray says as he enters the reactor room, which has six large cores in it.

"Does it matter?" CJ shoots back.

"Do you want to be responsible for fucking this up?"

"Look, we have a reactive warhead, and we're going to remote detonate it next to one of the reactor's cores. How the hell can we fuck this up?"

"Listen, if we do this flawlessly, we'll get a promotion, and we'll actually get paid more than scraps for once. We. Cannot. Fuck. This. Up."

"Alright, you know what? Let's just stick the bomb in the middle of all of them. That way, all of them will go critical, and at the very least, the ship will be crippled for years."

"Ok. Cycle the reactor; see if we can maximize the damage."

CJ goes over to a nearby console. After typing for a minute or so, he frowns. "We've got a problem. The lines to the center of the ship and forward are cut. Looks like the ship was already in pretty bad shape before we got here. That, or someone was expecting us. Most of the damage will be from here to the back. The best we can do is completely destroy the leg units and knock off a few turrets here and there. The bridge will definitely survive." CJ spits out in a flurry.

"Dammit. You're certain that this'll do enough damage?" Ray says.

"100%. Worst case scenario, for us, the engines will remain attached to the ship but will be out of commission."

"Alright," Ray grunts as he rolls the crate towards the space in between all six reactor cores, "let's just arm this thing and get out of here. We've been here too long as is."

He opens the lock on the side, opening the crate. Inside was a large warhead with a with a small screen on it. CJ walks over to him, handing him a slip of paper.

"Here's the code to arm the bomb. It'll give us fifteen minutes to get out. Walkure's out right now, so they won't get hit by the blast."

"Good, I'm arming it now. The moment that screen lights up, we get the hell out of here. Got it?" Ray orders.

"Got it. Do it."

The plan was to detonate an explosive within the reactor room of the Elysion to cripple or destroy the warship. That was all the two men were told. Everything else, i.e. the bomb being a reactive warhead and it having a timer, were assumed. The moment Ray activated the explosive, which was actually a high-powered, yet short ranged fusion bomb, said device went off, vaporizing the two men. The reactor cores were heavily shielded, naturally. However, the energy emitted by the fusion bomb melted through the shields within nanoseconds of detonation, causing the cores inside to go critical and send a destructive amount of energy through all of the available power lines running throughout the ship. Luckily for the Elysion and those operating inside of it, the lower half of the ship was almost completely empty, and the only sections of the ship that were densely inhabited were the 'shoulders' of the Elysion. Said sections of the ship were almost completely cut off from the reactor, as the right arm unit was destroyed, so power wasn't really necessary. As for the left arm unit, the only serious damage sustained was to the lighting system. The Aether and the Herrara were only partially connected to the Elysion, namely by cables and the Aether's arm unit mount, which wasn't drawing power from the the Elysion. The center of the ship wasn't so fortunate, as the majority of the power was cycling to locations within the 'torso' of the Elysion, namely the power distributors to the beam cannon turrets near the bridge, which overloaded and detonated. The bridge remained unharmed, as the P-Point barrier system for the bridge ran on its own reserve energy system, and the sudden influx of energy in close proximity to the bridge triggered the sensors, activating the shield seconds before the explosions damaged the bridge.

As this attack was being executed, four VF-22s slip past the detection sensors of the Elysion. Two chase after the two shuttles heading towards their respective drop points, while the other two split off and hover above the forest the two shuttles were heading.

* * *

 _Present time, in the space surrounding Ragna_

A multitude of fold gates appears above Ragna. There are at least twenty fold gates. Half of them reveal Guantanamo class carriers, nine reveal stealth cruisers. The last fold gate opens to reveal a Macross-class warship, coated with a sleek navy-blue finish, identical in design to the Macross Elysion, but somewhat smaller. All the ships bore a large white NUNS insignia somewhere along the hulls, save for the Macross-class warship. The Macross-class warship had a triple star insignia that were arranged in a triangle formation, and had blue trails behind each of the stars. The insignia was emblazoned on the center of the hull, just below the head-bridge unit of the ship. The NUNS fleet jumped within sensor range of the Elysion, tripping all of the long range detection sensors. However, the Elysion was still in a state of utter chaos from the suicide attack on the ship's reactor core. With the fate of Walkure unknown to the leadership of the Elysion, and Delta Platoon missing in action, the best of Chaos' forces were out of commission. Nine of the NUNS carriers launch a squadron of VF-171 Nightmares, while another launches two shuttles. Unknown to the NUNS attacking fleet and Chaos, there was another party coming into play.

A considerable distance behind the NUNS fleet, five more fold gates open, revealing ships that are very different from the ones the just appeared. Three carrier-type ships exit their fold gates first. All three carrier-type ships are identical to each other, yet extremely different from standard carriers. The hull of the unknown carriers appear to be a four-way fusion of Uraga class carrier hulls, arranged in a diamond formation. There is what appears to be an energy cannon in the center of the ship, surrounded by the carrier hulls on each corner. The engines are arranged in a similar pattern as the carrier hulls, except that they jut out slightly further than the hull, and are rather large in comparison to the rest of the ship. Each engine has two turret mounts on it, one facing forward, the other facing backwards. The design is remarkably similar to the turrets of the Elysion, except smaller. Compared to the Aether and the Herrara, both of which are still sitting in the water, the new carrier is roughly three times larger in all dimensions.

The other two ships that appear are even larger than the carriers that preceded them. They resemble the design of the cannon units of larger Macross-class warships. The hull is long, with a bulge that begins at the middle of the ship and ends at the rear. There are two arrays of forward facing triple-mount beam cannon turrets, three each, in front of a diagonal structure that appears to be the bridge of the ship. They're arranged in a stair-like formation, the forward most two on the actual hull, the next above, and the last higher. There are similar turret arrangements surrounding the bridge. Six in front, four on each side, and six behind; and that didn't include the massive number of smaller turrets that littered the hull of the ship.

The massive warships stay within close proximity to the three carriers, the group floating just outside of the sensor range of the massive NUNS fleet. As the NUNS fleet began its descent into Ragna's atmosphere, the unknown fleet edged closer, staying just outside of the range of the Macross warship's sensors. Once the NUNS fleet was confirmed to be under the atmosphere, one of the unknown carriers launches a shuttle that doesn't resemble any other known shuttle chassis's. The shuttle's body is wedge-shaped, and unlike other shuttles, it is wider than it is tall; however, the shuttle was comparable to the VF-31, making it considerably larger than a standard shuttle. The shuttle's semi-hexagonal wings are positioned towards the top of the shuttle's fuselage. There is an engine on each wing, positioned close to the fuselage but still attached to the wing. There is a small turret under the nose of the shuttle, an identical one on the roof, towards the rear. The other two each launch a squadron of VF-30 Chronos'. Each Chronos is painted silver, with a red wing trim. None of them have any markings, save for the apparent leaders of the two squadrons. One of the Chronos's is marked with a pair of angel wings, with a gold sword in between; the other marked with a light pink flower surrounded by black thorns. A dark blue VF-31 Siegfried zooms past the squadron. The Siegfried bears a strangely familiar insignia: a white horned skull with blue wings. The unknown Siegfried blasts toward Ragna with incredible speed. The remaining fighters and shuttle form a diamond formation, with the shuttle in the middle. As they near Ragna, the shuttle emits a grey light, bathing the surrounding fighters. The air group suddenly disappears from sight, their silhouettes rendered invisible. They zoom towards Ragna's atmosphere, to a particular location on Ragna.

* * *

 _On the ground, 20 miles from the designated rendezvous point_

Shuttle two barely managed to avoid crashing due to Hayate's and Shiro's actions. Hayate somehow knew how to depressurize the damaged fuel lines that the series of bullet impacts caused, while Shiro jumped on the pilot's controls after the pilot was knocked unconscious by the impact. The landing still left the shuttle completely out of commission, and both Arad and Mirage were knocked out as the shuttle made its descent. A few feet from the shuttle, Chuck and Hayate carry Arad and Mirage, respectively to a spot under dense foliage. They set down their unconscious superiors, Chuck tending to their wounds while Hayate runs back to the shuttle to see if any usable equipment survived. As it turned out, Shiro had prepared for a worst-case scenario, bringing his personal sidearms and a couple compact rifles with enough live ammo to last an extended engagement. In addition, he also brought his primary swords, stowing them in a side-mounted case in the shuttle's hull. However, the impact of the shuttle's rough landing warped the hull enough to partially cover the case his swords were resting in, much to his disdain. He frowned at his inability to retrieve his weapons as Hayate walks up to him.

"What's wrong, Shiro?"

"A number of things, primarily the fact that my swords are stuck in there, and I cannot determine the safety of Walkure in any way whatsoever." Shiro blankly replies as he stares at the warped hull of the shuttle.

"Well, at least you brought some guns and ammo. Now we're not totally screwed. In any case, why don't you just hit the shuttle's hull until it gives and you can grab your swords?"

"As much as I would like to, doing so might cause me unnecessary injury and it would make a considerable amount of noise, which might alert the ones who attacked us, assuming that they're hunting us."

"Shiro, it's now or never. If you don't grab them now, I doubt you'll be able to grab them for a while." Hayate warns the bodyguard.

Shiro sighs. "I suppose so." He stops for a moment. "What made you think that I could bend the hull with my fists?"

Hayate raises an eyebrow. "Shiro, come on. I'm not that clueless when it comes to things like this. If you can swing around heavy swords the way you do, why wouldn't you be able to bend back a shuttle's hull with your bare hands?"

Shiro gives Hayate a look that sends chills down the latter's spine. "I don't see how you came to such a conclusion, Hayate. Could it be that you know a bit more about me than you let on?"

Hayate gulps before giving his answer. "It's not like that, Shiro. For one thing, it was just something I assumed. Also, when I asked you earlier about hitting the shuttle, your answer kinda confirmed that you could do that." He frowns slightly. "In any case, how did you know to bring guns and live ammo to go with it? I didn't think anyone would see this coming, much less be able to prepare for it."

"I didn't prepare for this situation," Shiro states as he punches the hull of the shuttle, a dent larger than he expected forming. "I simply followed my instincts, which led me to prepare for a possible attack on our group."

Hayate, half gaping at the dent Shiro made, half gaping at the accuracy of Shiro's instinctual prediction, continues. "And your instincts didn't tell you that you should've prepared further?"

Shiro punches the hull in a different spot close to his sword case, the hull groaning audibly. "Like I said, it was simply me following my instincts; it's not as though I have the ability of future foresight, although such an ability would be very useful."

Hayate turns around and spots a first aid kit wedged between the floor and a seat on the shuttle. "Well, you seem to be very good at predicting danger, Shiro." He pries the kit free from the floor.

Shiro backs up to the other side of the shuttle and kicks the dented bulge of metal. The chunk of metal rips free off the hull, falling on the ground with a loud thunk. Chuck looks at Shiro through the hole in the hull with a somewhat surprised expression. Shiro turns to the now exposed sword case and opens it. "Let's just say I've learned through do or die situations." He says as he straps on the metallic plate and attaches the pulsating blades on his back.

Hayate looks at the swords on his back. "That reminds me. You say that you dual-wield often, and you often bring two of everything to the fight, but you've only used one weapon in combat as far as the reports say."

"That is true, for the most part. The reason for that is I often fail to hold back when I dual wield. It is hard for me to restrain myself when I dual wield because there is a weapon in each of my hands."

Hayate looks at him. "Isn't that how dual-wielding works?"

Shiro sighs. "That's not what I mean. When I only have one weapon, my other hand is empty, which reminds me that I have a hand to protect people with, instead of taking lives with both." He walks out of the shuttle.

Hayate's eyes widen briefly as he follows. "That's why you've only used one weapon around Walkure."

"That is correct."

"But why don't you use both to protect? Why is it that you can only kill when you use two weapons? Someone as strong as yourself should be able to hold back even while using two weapons." He says, confusion evident in his tone.

"I have the most trouble restraining myself when I use my swords. Using guns gives me more control." Shiro's face falls slightly. "Whichever way you look at it, I'm really only strong enough to take the lives of others."

"But why would you even need to train yourself to be able to deflect bullets, or even train your reflexes to be on the level that they are?"

"That wasn't so much an ability I learned for others so much as for myself. Even when I try to defend others, I have to put myself in harm's way the same way they're in." Shiro walks over to a tree next to Chuck and the unconscious pilots.

"Your fighting style doesn't really match the style that a bodyguard would have, so I can see that." Hayate says as he hands Chuck the first aid kit.

"You're ridiculously powerful for a fighter assuming the position of a bodyguard, Shiro. You're a lot like Mikumo, in a way. Except you're probably not a weapon meant for mass destruction." Chuck adds as he bandages Mirage's head.

"Being that strong would be extremely useful in a lot of situations," Hayate muses, "I can't really think of anything wrong with being that powerful."

"Have you ever heard of the saying, 'Great power often comes at a great cost?' Nothing in this universe is without cost; my skills and abilities are no exception. What do you think had to be sacrificed to gain this power?" Shiro softly remarks as he cocks both of his sidearms.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Shiro," Chuck interjects, "but maybe it's best that you're the one to carry that burden. It seems as though you're the only one who's able to withstand that kind of burden. Maybe that's why you're as strong as you are."

Shiro holsters his sidearms. "Perhaps."

Hayate runs back to the shuttle. A few minutes later, he comes out with five wireless earpieces. "I found some earpieces, dunno if the they work or not."

"Can't hurt to try." Chuck says.

Shiro mentally created a list of things that could result from activating communication devices, but he kept these to himself as he picked one of them up.

Hayate pushes the button to activate the earpiece and puts it in his ear. "Elysion, this is Delta Four, do you copy? Elysion, this is Delta Four, do you copy?" After a minute or so, he looks at Shiro. "Put yours in and see if we can at least talk to each other."

Shiro puts his earpiece in. "Delta Four, this is Delta Five, do you read me?"

"Delta Five, this is Delta Four, I read you loud and clear."

"Delta Five, Delta Four, Delta Three is online and ready."

"Okay, so they work on our end," Hayate says as he closes the channel, "but something's happened to the Elysion, or everyone's asleep."

"It would appear so." Shiro stoically remarks.

A soft thud draws his attention. His head snaps toward the direction of the sound, where he spots a tuft of pink hair a moderate distance from the shuttle. He quickly walks over to the pink hair, finding Makina collapsed on the ground, somewhat conscious. Her clothes are torn and disheveled, a number of cuts and bruises littering her legs. There is a large blood stain on her right side. Her breathing is heavy but stable.

She turns her head to look at Shiro, a weak smile on her face. "Hey, Shiro. Fancy meeting you here."

Shiro, not wasting a second, scoops the mechanic into his arms, earning a soft groan and a light blush from her. "Do you know where the others are?"

She winces as he carries her back to the shuttle area. "I don't know where anyone is. I lost Rei-Rei and the others during the crash.

Hayate's eyes widen slightly and he gets up to run to Shiro.

"Don't." Shiro orders. "Watch my back."

Hayate quickly obeys, grabbing one of the rifles and a couple magazines. He moves toward Shiro, rifle raised and eyes narrowed. "Is she alone?"

"She's the only one I found." Shiro says as he gently lowers her to the ground next to the two pilots.

Arad stirs. "Ugh, what-" He looks around as Shiro gets back up. "What happened?"

Hayate runs back to the shuttle area. "Long story short, we and Walkure were attacked, we got caught with our pants down, we lost Walkure except for Makina, who we just found, and we can't contact the Elysion."

Arad rubs his head. "This feels a little too familiar for my liking."

Shiro bandages the major injuries on Makina's leg. The wound on her right side, while bandaged, was still bleeding. He gently sets her in a lying position and looks at her. "Sorry about your modesty, but I'm gonna have to remove part of your shirt."

She smiles weakly. "Fine, but I'll have to charge you if you get to see too much of me."

Shiro takes a pair of scissors from the first aid kit Hayate found and begins to cut and peel the bloodstained fabric from Makina's side. She tenses as she inhales sharply. Shiro wastes no time cleaning the blood off as best as he could. He places an alcohol pad on the wound, then places a thick wad of gauze over it. As he wraps the bandages around her side, Makina cries out in pain, desperately trying not to move as Shiro tends to her wounds.

"Ngh, how bad is it? I didn't really have time to check." She barely manages, her head covered in sweat.

"It's serious, but not life-threatening. We can't quite move you yet, we'll have to wait a while for the wound to clot up." He raises his head, scanning the area around them.

"Shiro, we can't move Mirage or Makina like this. We'd be easy prey for our attackers." Chuck tensely states.

"Captain, can you move?" Hayate asks, looking at the senior pilot.

"My head's still a bit dizzy, but give me a few minutes and I should be fine." Arad says, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"Captain, what do you suggest we do next?" Shiro asks.

"Let me think. There's four of us who can move, and two we need to bring with us. If we move, we'll lose half of our combat capacity but we'll be less exposed. If we stay put, we'll have more manpower, but the enemy will most likely find us quickly."

"I have a suggestion, though I doubt you'll find it agreeable, Captain." Shiro calmly states.

"What is it?"

"I believe that I should go alone in a perimeter search of the area, eliminate any hostiles, rescue any members of Walkure that I find, and return; before we decide to move the entire group. We wouldn't run as high a risk of exposure if it's just me, and if I encounter any hostiles, they would most likely converge on my position rather than this one."

"Shiro, if this were any other situation, I'd deny you here and now, but given our circumstances, I can't entirely fault you for thinking this way. I hope this goes without saying, but you need to survive, Shiro. If you die or get captured saving Walkure, we're in an even deeper hole than we are now."

"Understood. I'll take an earpiece with me, since we have five of them. If anything worth mentioning happens, contact me, but otherwise keep the channel silent. We don't know if the enemy is able to receive our communications, so we'll have to assume so until it's proven otherwise."

"Got it." Hayate looks around before back at Shiro. "Shiro, I know your job is protecting Mikumo, but please, if you see Freyja, please help her." He grits his teeth. "I can't do anything right now, so I can only rely on you for this."

Shiro puts his hand on Hayate's shoulder. "I'll be blunt, Hayate: I cannot promise you anything. I don't know how or where I will find anyone of the girls still missing, and situation depending, I may not be able to rescue them. Understand that I want to find her as well, but we cannot risk the entire group for one person."

Hayate looks the bodyguard square in the eye, worry and pain evident in his gaze. "All I want you to promise is that no matter what, you'll do your best to help her and anyone else you come across."

Shiro turns around, pulling both of his swords off his back, testing them by slowly swinging them in wide arcs before sheathing them. He puts his earpiece in and pulls on a pair of grey gloves with small metallic plates on the palms. "I'm the last person you'll have to ask of that." He says before he dashes off into the woods.

After a few minutes of running, he stops and turns toward the sun set, sensing a presence hovering in the distance. He couldn't see what had tripped his senses, he only knew that something was out there, watching him. As he turns and runs off, the VF-31 hovering a considerable distance away slowly follows him with its cockpit. After a minute or so, it switches to fighter mode and starts flying toward a particular location in the forest where five Nightmares were converging.

* * *

 _A mile from the second half of Shuttle One's crash site._

Mikumo's eyes flutter open as she groans. She leans her head back and finds her head against a tree, which, she remembered, wasn't there before. She recalls the events of the past twenty minutes as she stares off into the sky when she quickly remembered something, or someone, for that matter.

"Are you okay, Mikumo-san?" Freyja's voice brings her back to reality.

Mikumo turns her head to see the orange-haired singer standing with a bag in her arms. She sets down the bag and pulls a first aid kit out of it; she checks Mikumo for any serious injuries on her limbs.

"I'm fine, Freyja. How are you doing? I thought you were badly hurt." Mikumo says, scanning the Windermerean's slender frame.

"I just banged my head during the crash, no big deal." Freyja chimes as she softly smiles at Mikumo. "You were more badly hurt than I was, and you still carried me pretty far. Your chest is really bruised, so I had to bandage it up."

Mikumo looks down for the first time since she'd woken up to find that she wasn't wearing a shirt, or her sports bra, for that matter. Her breasts were covered in bandages, which wrapped around her left shoulder. There was also a pair of bandages on her side and her right thigh. Her forearms also had bandages on them. She looks around to see that her garments are in a pile next to her.

"Are you sure it was okay to use this much on me?" Mikumo asks, half concerned about the sheer number of bandages on her body, half concerned about the injuries that lie beneath those bandages.

"We still have a lot, and I only used what I had to." Freyja softly replies as she pulls out a bottle of water from the bag. "Are you thirsty?"

"How much do we have?"

She opens the bag to reveal six moderately sized bottles, in addition to six silver-wrapped bars and the flare that Mikumo had in her kit. "It'll last if we use it right."

"Okay." She takes the bottle gingerly, slight pain twinging in her arm. She takes a small gulp before handing it back.

Freyja takes a few sips before closing the bottle and putting it back in the bag.

Mikumo tries to get up, but Freyja gently pushes her down. "Mikumo-san, please don't hurt yourself by moving around. You're not ready to move yet."

"We can't stay here, whoever attacked us is going to come looking for us, and we're close to the crash site." Mikumo protests.

She grabs her shirt and pulls it back on, ignoring the pain and pulling her hair through. Freyja pushes herself on top of Mikumo, this time with enough pressure to make the violet-haired singer flinch.

Freyja's expression is firm yet gentle. "I know, but we can't crawl our way out of here. If we hurt ourselves trying to escape, it's probably going to make it easier for them to capture us." Her rune's pink color changes to a light purple. "And I don't want either of us to be alone out here. _I_ don't want to be alone out here."

Mikumo looks at her protege, the gravity of Freyja's words hitting her hard. She gently pulls Freyja into her arms, the Windermerean yelping softly. "I won't leave you, Freyja. That much, I can promise."

Freyja looks back at Mikumo, barely contained tears in her eyes. "I'm so worried. About everyone, about... Hayate." She wraps her arms around Mikumo's neck, softly sobbing.

"Shiro's with them, I know he'll be able to protect them. And, soon enough, he'll come for us." Mikumo gently caresses Freyja's head as a thought comes into her mind.

 _Shiro...I wonder how he is doing...Is he okay? Is he fighting right now? Is he searching for us? Does really he care about us? About me?_

A blush hits her cheeks as her mind focuses on her last thought before she realizes that Freyja had stopped crying. She looks down to see that Freyja had cried herself to sleep in Mikumo's arms, her body cradled up to the senior singer's body.

"She's pretty light." Mikumo thinks to herself as she pulls the bag towards her. She spots an emergency blanket in the bag and unwraps it. She covers herself and Freyja with the blanket before drifting off to sleep again. A thought crosses her mind just before her consciousness slips.

 _I wonder how Shiro feels about me..._

* * *

 _Meanwhile, about 5 miles from Shuttle Two's landing site_

A shuttle slowly touches down in a clearing created by Nightmares knocking down the trees surrounding the shuttle. The rear door opens to reveal a platoon of men, all dressed in olive green combat armor. They're all armed with rifles, and as they file out, a man behind them with darker green armor barks at them.

"Hurry up! The unknowns are going to be here soon, we need to move it! Spread out and find the HVIs! You know who needs to be kept alive, so all you trigger-happy nuts need to cool it! Everyone else is expendable! Move out!"

Unbeknownst to them, a certain bodyguard of sorts was watching them from a tree, at level with one of the two Nightmares still standing at the clearing.

 _Fifteen soldiers total. They're all highly trained mercenaries, elite black ops soldiers, or idiots. There are at least 10 VF-171s, best assume that there are twice as many in the area. If the Nightmares moved-_

The two Nightmares switch to Gerwalk mode and hover above the trees before going off in their separate directions. Three more Nightmares appear next to the pre-existing two. After a minute or so, all five Nightmares turn and head the same direction, leaving the soldiers on the ground without any air support.

 _Hmm, this is too convenient. I'll wait for an opening. Hopefully I can grab at least one of their comm units. It would make it easier to figure out what their next move is before they execute._

After five minutes, the soldiers on the ground form a semicircle around the rear door to the shuttle. Shiro silently jumps down from the tree, creeping closer to the group. He moves around the clearing until he is in front of the shuttle. After checking to see if there was a pilot in the shuttle's cockpit, which there wasn't, he jumps on top of the shuttle, being careful not to make any noise. He looks around to see what kind of equipment the soldiers are armed with.

 _Five of them are armed with Fragmentation grenades, another five with land mines, and the last four with machetes. The presumed leader has a larger caliber rifle than the others. Looks like a marksman rifle. I'll need to take the leader alive, if possible. He's not near any of the ones armed with explosives. Maybe I can take those out first._

As he decides his course of action, he notices that the men with mines are starting to plant them in a perimeter around the shuttle. Deciding not to wait, he lets one of the men in the center of the group plant his mine. As the soldier is doing so, Shiro pulls out one of his sidearms and shoots the mine, detonating it in the center of the group of soldiers. The men around the mine are riddled with shrapnel in a matter of seconds, their bodies sent flying in different directions. The mine's detonation causes the other mines to detonate, resulting a chain of explosions. At least five men are dead or wounded enough for them to be out of action. The remaining soldiers are in a frenzy, some shooting in different directions, others running for cover. Shiro jumps off the roof of the shuttle, swords drawn. He dashes toward a trio of men diving towards a felled tree. He cuts them in half before dashing towards another group of five men, all of whom are in a circle, trying to figure where their attackers were. One of the men sees Shiro right as he swings at him.

"Hos-" The man's speech was cut off as Shiro slice vertically, cutting the man clean in half.

The other men turn just as Shiro sprinted towards them. One of them aims his rifle at Shiro, only to have it and his arms sliced apart by Shiro. The bodyguard kicks the now armless man in front of the three remaining men, who freeze at the site of their dismembered comrade being sent towards them. They stare for a couple seconds. In that time, Shiro closed the distance between him and the remaining three men; as the men snap out of their trance, Shiro slices one across his upper body, splitting his arms and chest apart. One of the two men pulls out a handgun, while the second pulls out a knife. The man with a knife charges at Shiro, while the other jumps off to the side to get a better firing angle on Shiro. As the man with a knife stabs at Shiro, the one with a handgun fires three times at Shiro, not even considering the danger his comrade was in. Shiro switches the sword in his left into a reverse stance to deflect the bullets while slicing the man with a knife diagonally. Two of the three bullets reflect back to the man with the gun, hitting him in the shoulder and grazing his neck. As he flinches from the shots, Shiro appears in front of him, and before he can react, Shiro slices him in two before scanning for more hostiles and the leader. The latter sprays at him with his rifle as he backs up. As Shiro dashes toward him, he pulls out a gun from his side holster. Shiro's eyes widen briefly before he throws himself off to the side just as the buckshot grazes him. As he rolls to the side, the leader taunts him.

"Hoh, you're faster than I expected, kid. Shame you're not working for us, or you'd be getting a paycheck as big as mine."

Shiro narrows his eyes slightly. "I'm not very motivated by money."

The leader laughs as he reloads his sawn-off. "Well, then, how about information? I don't charge much."

"I think I'll just get it out of you when I dismember you." Shiro softly remarks as he sheathes one of his swords and replaces it with a sidearm.

"Cocky little shit, aren't you? Okay, if you can cut my arms off before I hit you, then I'll-"

He didn't get to finish as Shiro dashed toward him and shot the sawn-off out of his hands before slicing his rifle arm off and spin kicking him into the bay of the shuttle. He then shot the man's remaining shoulder, effectively cutting off both of the man's arms.

"This isn't negotiable. You _WILL_ tell me everything you know, or I'll make it so that you'll beg me to let you die." Shiro's expression was stoic, but there was a slight hint of venom in his voice, sending an ethereal chill up the man's spine.

The man looked at him, a cocky smile still on his face, despite the fact he was trembling slightly. "How about I just wait until I bleed out? What're you gonna do then, kid?"

Shiro simply looked at his stub blankly before picking the man's rifle. He placed the barrel next to the stub before firing the rifle until its magazine emptied. He grabbed another magazine from the man's vest and repeated the cycle until the barrel was red hot. Shiro then jammed it into the man's stub, causing the man to scream in pain. Shiro held him down with his knee as the man writhed in pain. The smell of burnt flesh soon filled the shuttle. After a couple minutes, Shiro stepped off of the man and tossed his rifle out of the shuttle. The man looked down and saw his stub was burnt horribly, but was no longer bleeding. He then looked at Shiro in horror. Shiro simply looked at him blankly.

"I'll repeat this process as many times as it takes, but I'd rather not, for the sake of the person I'm here to protect. We can do this quickly, and I'll put you out of your misery, or we can draw it out, and paint the inside of this shuttle red. Your choice."

The man looked at him shakily, his confidence gone. "O-okay, I'll tell you what I know, just please, no more."

Shiro gazed at him, not a trace of emotion in his eyes. "Good. Begin."

* * *

 _About two miles from the first half of Shuttle One's crash site._

Kaname looks around before sitting on the ground, sighing with exhaustion. She checks the wound on her left shoulder, ensuring it hadn't bled through her bandages. After checking so, she takes a bottle of water out of her small bag, taking a swig before quickly putting it away. She looks around a second time, making sure there wasn't any sign of herself in the surrounding area and making sure there wasn't any sign of possible pursuers. She leans her head back against a tree, her eyes heavy. She begins to nod off when the sound of a Valkyrie draws her attention. She looks around, hoping it was a Chaos-aligned fighter, but she turns around and sees a Nightmare, painted in the standard teal-blue camo. It was hovering in Gerwalk mode, its cockpit facing the opposite direction of her. She gets up and grabs her bag, hoping to avoid its attention, but as she turns to move, the Nightmare turns in her direction. It aims its gunpod at her and activates the light mounted on the head.

"Hold it right there, Kaname Buccaneer." The voice is male, monotone.

"Crap." Kaname mutters under her breath as she begins to run away.

The Nightmare follows her, and as Kaname tries to lose her pursuer in the woods, she hears another Valkyrie on her left side. Turning her head briefly, she spots another Nightmare with the same color scheme approaching her. As she continues to run, someone tackles her from the front, sending her to the ground. She groans, looking at the person on top of her. Reina looks back at her, and they look at each other for a moment before the sound of two more Valkyries, most likely Nightmares, approach them. They get up and start to run, but a Nightmare lands right in front of the two, knocking down all the trees surrounding it with its arm. They jump back, but a second Nightmare lands directly behind them, clearing out the trees around it similarly to the first Nightmares. As if to dissuade them from attempting to resist capture further, the other two land on their left and right, clearing all of the trees around their landing area.

"We're boxed in." Kaname breathes as they Nightmares around them level their gunpods at them.

"I don't think I can go on further, Kaname." Reina softly groans.

Kaname looks at Reina and quickly finds that Reina's right calf and left thigh are bleeding. The bleeding itself wasn't serious, but it showed no signs of stopping; if they continued to run, Reina would definitely go into shock from blood loss, or worse yet, die.

 _They definitely won't wait for me to patch her up before they grab us..._

"Kaname, leave me. You have to get out of here." Reina's voice cuts through her thoughts.

Kaname looks at her incredulously for a moment. "Reina, are you kidding me? I can't possibly escape all of them at once."

"At least one of them will stay to capture me, probably two." Reina softly argues, the Nightmares slowly inching closer to them.

"Reina. I. Am. Not. Leaving. You." Kaname firmly states, ignoring the Nightmares reaching for her. A fifth Nightmare approaches from above them.

"You don't know what they're going to do to us-" Reina starts, but doesn't get to finish.

At that moment, a burst of gunfire and a beam blasts pelted the four Nightmares surrounding them. Two of the Nightmares take a direct hit from a beam blast and explode. One of the Nightmares gets shredded by the hail of gunfire that hammers it, causing the Nightmare to collapse and explode. The fourth Nightmare manages to survive the burst of lethal fire, only to get tagged by at least five missiles, the Valkyrie becoming a pile of burnt metal in a matter of seconds. Another Nightmare appears and switches to Gerwalk mode, intending to surprise its attacker, but is cut in half by a beam blast, it collapsing into a massive fireball just a few meters from the two singers. Kaname turns her head towards the source of the tracers to see a VF-31 in Gerwalk mode landing close to her, the body angled downward just enough for her to see the modified Grim Reaper insignia on its back. Her eyes widen and she freezes, her gaze locked onto the emblem. She doesn't register the pilot of the Siegfried hopping out of the cockpit and walking towards her until the latter is less than two feet from her. She tries to move back, but looks down to see that Reina had lost consciousness. Her gaze fixes on the tall pilot, who is standing above her. The pilot was definitely male, as his body stature and obvious muscles made it clear. He knelt down in front of her, and Kaname noticed that he had a first aid kit in his arm. He gently takes Reina from Kaname, who doesn't even protest. As he wraps Reina's wounds in bandages, Kaname stared at the emblem on his shoulder. It was identical to the one on his Siegfried, so she could clearly see the details of it. It was identical to the old Grim Reaper of Delta Platoon, save for a few color changes. The pilot also had a tall stature, similar to a supposedly deceased pilot. She snaps to focus as the pilot finishes bandaging Reina's wounds. He sets Reina on the ground gently, and as he does so, Kaname focuses her gaze on the visor of the pilot's helmet, hoping to see through it. As if he's aware of her desire to know his identity, the pilot reaches for his helmet, and as he takes it off, Kaname's heart skips a beat and her blood runs cold.

"M-Messer-kun?"

* * *

Hey guys! These chapters are getting longer as the story progresses. I think you all are enjoying the story so far, as your reviews are positive, but if there's anything you'd like to know, or if you'd like to suggest something, leave a review! Also, if you have any questions, as long as it isn't spoiler related, I'll answer to the best of my ability. And yes, before anyone asks me, Messer is back. I'll let your imaginations run wild after that :D


	12. Chapter 12

Hey guys! Sorry about the delay in posting this chapter, I was on spring break and my family insisted we 'hold off' on the technology, so I didn't get as much time as I wanted to write this chapter. Anyways, enjoy and leave a comment, question or review!

* * *

Kaname couldn't react. Her eyes widened to the point where she thought her head would explode. Messer was here? Alive? Flying in action? HOW? The man long thought dead was kneeling right in front of her, looking almost exactly as he did before he died. Her head was furious whirlwind of questions that couldn't be answered. Not yet.

"Messer-kun?" Kaname said his name again, her mind not yet grasping what was happening.

"Hello, Kaname-san. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Messer's husky and calm voice snapped her back to reality.

Kaname couldn't say anything for a moment. "H-How? I-I watched you die...We buried you..." The tears began to spill out of her eyes. "I thought you were gone forever..." Her voice begins to crack.

Messer looks down slightly, and Kaname swore she saw a mixture of shame and grief on his face before he responded.

What he did next, shocked her in every way possible. Her eyes bulged briefly and she squirmed a bit before melting into the kiss. They stayed like that for a minute before their lips parted, Kaname near breathless and flustered. Messer pulled her into a close embrace, her body pressed close against his, their eyes locked.

"I can't tell you everything, Kaname, but I need to tell you this: I've loved you from the moment we met. I could never express it, and it nearly cost me." He squeezes her. "I will not make that mistake again."

"Please tell me you can stay with us." Kaname begs softly, her mind already knowing the answer.

Messer gently shakes his head, not putting more distance between himself and her. "I can't. Not yet. I will help you anyway I can, but I'm not supposed to have met you here. I'll explain later, don't worry, I'll help you anyway I can, indirectly. But this much, I can tell you: Go three miles southeast. There is another shuttle, along with most of Delta Platoon. There is another person closing in on Mikumo's position."

Kaname was still a flustered mess, but she took in the information, and swore to remember it. "Before you go, I need to know, will you ever come back?" She was fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.

Messer pulls her close enough for their foreheads to touch. "I _WILL_ come back, Kaname. So please, wait for me. Live for me."

Kaname pulls him into a kiss with more strength than either of them realized she had. She squeezed him tightly before separating. "You better come back in time for my birthday." She gives him a smile that made his heart melt.

"I'll be there, I promise."

"Don't make me a promise you can't keep." She teases lightly.

Messer smiles. "Have I ever?"

Kaname hugs him one last time before whispering in his ear. "Check your room. The key's under the mat."

Messer smiles as he puts on his helmet and walks back to his Siegfried. He turns to look at Kaname. "Is my old plane still here?"

She looks up, a bit surprised. "Yeah, why?"

"If the old seat still exists, take off the seat padding." He says as he climbs into the cockpit. He gives Kaname a salute before taking off. As he takes off, he smirks to himself.

 _Two months, huh?_

He frowns as a ripple effect forms around his fighter. Two VF-30 Chronos's appear next to him, with at least ten more behind him, accompanied by a strange shuttle. Both of them, similar to his fighter, have unique insignias of their own. There is a rose-emblazoned fighter to his left, and and a white-winged fighter on his right.

"You just couldn't resist, could you?" A female voice rings from his comm. Her voice is light yet serious.

Messer looks at the holo screen on the left of his canopy. A young woman, most likely in her early twenties, with slightly narrowed purple eyes looks at him expectantly. A lock of brown hair is visible on the side of her face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Messer nonchalantly replies.

"We're not as clueless as you'd like us to be, Messer." A soft voice notes. Her tone was strikingly similar to Reina's, yet that it was noticeably lighter.

Messer looks up slightly as a pair of Freyja-sized gold eyes focus on him. "I have no comments for that statement." The girl with gold eyes tilted her head to the side to look at the squadron behind them, revealing a sliver of silver hair. She looks back at Messer, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Messer, you don't have to lie to us. I know we're still not on the best of terms, but seriously; we know you went after the Nightmares that were targeting Kaname Buccaneer." The younger pilot notes.

"You fail to mention that Reina Prowler was also present and in her current condition, she would've been injured worse." Messer replies, agitation evident.

The older pilot scoffs. "Look, I can't say that I know how you feel, but the mission comes first. You can't compromise the mission because your feelings get in the way-"

"What the hell is our mission? Assist Chaos in repelling Red Veil's assault? For the amount of intelligence that you pride yourself over, _Captain Takamura_ , you seem to have failed to realize that we have already failed to do so. The Elysion is already crippled, and Walkure is being hunted like animals in a forest. Stop me if I'm wrong, but I just stopped two vital potential assets from being captured and tortured by what is easily known to us as the most aggressive and violent sub-faction of NUNS." Messer growls.

The two female pilots look at each other, both of them incredibly offset by the burst of fierce emotion from the otherwise calm pilot.

"Messer, we're-"

"Save it. We've got four VF-22's and twenty Nightmares inbound. I'll take care of the spec ops fighters." Messer snaps. He throttles forward, not even giving the other pilots time to say anything. He glares at the incoming group.

 _You've got a lot of nerve to go after my friends. I don't care if they don't see me that way. I've been gone too long; it's time to make up for my absence._

* * *

 _Somewhere in the forest_

Mikumo stirs from the distant sound of gunfire and explosions. She opens her eyes, only to realize that it was most likely the middle of the night, because she couldn't see much. She tries to sit up, only to realize that Freyja was still resting on her. It wasn't that she couldn't move her protege, it was the fact that Freyja had her arms wrapped snugly around Mikumo's chest, using her breasts as a pillow. Mikumo blushed slightly as Freyja hugged her chest closer, squeezing her chest in the process. It came to the point where Mikumo couldn't help but squirm, and after a minute, a soft but audible sound escaped her lips. It apparently startled Freyja, because her head shot up and her arms tightened further around Mikumo's breasts. The latter tensed up, yelping audibly.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Mikumo-san!" Freyja blushes softly as her rune pulses a low pink, illuminating both of their faces.

"I-It's fine, Freyja. Can you ease up though?" Mikumo tilts her head off to the side.

"Yeah." Freyja lightly disengages from Mikumo. "How long have we been out?"

"I don't know. A few hours. Be quiet a moment." Mikumo's curt reply makes Freyja stop for a moment. She looks around and finds, or rather, hears why Mikumo shut her off.

In the distance behind them, five white lights switch on, accompanied by a series of voices.

"What're you talking about, I didn't see anything."

"Me neither. You sure you're not hallucinating?"

"I swear I saw something. This is a forest, unless you know any glow-in-the-dark purple plants, I'm pretty sure that was one of them."

"I heard something too. There's two of them out there. There has to be, the voices sounded different."

"Shut it, they might try to move. If we can hear them, they can probably hear us. Lets hurry and grab them. From the sounds of it, Team two got wiped out."

"We need to move."

Mikumo and Freyja look at each other, their hearts pounding. They quickly pack up the blanket and grab the bag of supplies. Right as they stand up against the tree, another light flashes them from the side.

"They're over here! Behind the tree! Get them!"

Mikumo and Freyja shoot each other looks before they dart off in the opposite direction of the lights, when a series of gunfire erupts from behind them. Several of the trees around them splinter, Freyja raising her arm to cover herself from the hail of wood chips. They jump over a fallen tree, barely avoiding the bullets whizzing over their heads.

"Hey! We need them alive!"

"Well, we need them in general, so go for the legs!"

"If you don't have a clear shot, don't shoot! If you end up killing one of them, you're next on the boss' list!"

"Fuck it!"

Mikumo and Freyja dive toward a large boulder, both of their hearts racing. They checked their left, which they came from, then they checked behind them, seeing the group still hot on their trail. Neither of them saw the men approaching from in front of them until they were blinded by the flashlights.

"Hold it right there!"

They try to run off to the left, but two men appear out of their blind spots. One of them punches Freyja in the stomach, sending her to the ground hard. Mikumo kicks the man who tries to grab her in the face, but gets thrown by the other. She lands next to Freyja, who is coiled up in pain. Mikumo looks up to see the men surrounding them in an arc. She wraps her arms protectively around Freyja, inching away from the group when she feels a metal piece jammed forcefully on the back of her head.

"Don't even try it."

Mikumo looks behind her out of the corner of her eye to see a menacing figure pointing a pistol to her head with one hand. She scoffs, standing up with Freyja in her arms. She ignores the look that Freyja gives her, along with the man steadying his pistol with his other arm. She turns partially toward the man, ensuring that if anyone decided to fire, the rounds wouldn't collateral the two of them.

"You need us alive, do you not? What good would it serve your boss to kill either of us?" Mikumo narrows her eyes at the man holding her at gunpoint.

The man laughs, his voice coarse and hard. He then aims his pistol down and fires. The bullet shaves Mikumo's left knee and impacts just below her right knee. Mikumo cries out as her leg gives out from the pain and strain from holding Freyja up. She tries to steady herself as the man walks around her and wraps his arm around Freyja's neck. The Windermerean singer cries out and tries to free herself, but the man strikes her in the back of her head. Freyja lets out a pained sound as she struggles to stay conscious.

"Let me make some things clear. First, we only need you, she's only a secondary priority." He growls as he puts the barrel under her chin. Freyja yelps as her eyes grow wide. "Second, I've been informed that you possess remarkable healing abilities, so I can treat you however I damn well please, so you'd better behave."

Mikumo glares at the man intensely, and in response, the man strikes her head sideways, knocking her out.

"Alright, let's go. We've received reports of a shuttle that doesn't belong to us sitting two miles North of here. I want four of you guarding her." He motions to the unconscious Mikumo. "Two of you hold on to her." He shoves Freyja into the arms of a man, who places a firm hand on her shoulder. He gives her a steely gaze. The other man doesn't make eye contact with her. She stumbles as she tries to stand up, and the man grabs her. He sighs before picking Freyja up and putting her over his shoulder. Freyja groaned in pain, as the bruise on her stomach wasn't going to go away anytime soon. The mercenaries, with Mikumo and Freyja hostage, then move toward Delta Platoon, who are unaware of the impending assault.

* * *

 _A half mile from shuttle two's site_

Chuck yawns as he squints around him. "Man, I can't see anything out here. How're we gonna know if Shiro or someone else is coming to us?"

Hayate looks at the flashlight attached to his rifle, tempted to turn it on for some peace of mind. "First off, keep it down a bit. Second, when Shiro gets close, hopefully with some, if not all of Walkure, he'll ring us up. He's not an idiot, we just have to trust him."

Chuck looks at him, his azure hair slightly visible with the glint of moonlight coming through the trees. "You sure put a lot of trust in him. You think he's being completely honest with us so far?"

"I have to. There's no one else who's capable of rescuing Walkure, given the sorry state we're in right now." Hayate eyebrows narrow slightly. "Realistically, he's probably not telling us everything, but as far as I can tell, he hasn't lied to us."

"I suppose that's true. It's just, I can't help but wonder if this all would've happened with or without Shiro coming here." Chuck says as he stands up, stretching his back.

"If Shiro hadn't come here when he did, wouldn't we have already lost Walkure, either from them being kidnapped or being blown to bits?"

Chuck stops to think for a moment. "Yeah, you've got a point there. A lot's happened recently, huh?"

"Yeah." Hayate tenses. He cocks his head towards the sound. Chuck notices the movement and readies his rifle. "Hayate, go and alert the Captain. Sounds like a group."

"The Captain said not to split up. In any case, we shouldn't fight them head-on. Come on, let's go." Hayate turns.

Chuck looks back for a moment before turning to follow Hayate.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, half a mile from Mikumo and Freyja's initial position_

Shiro, after twenty minutes of continuous sprinting, decided to rest briefly. He taps his earpiece to check for any signs of communication from Delta Platoon and/or the Elysion. After a minute, he closes the channel and stretches his neck. He looks around in the dark for any sign of activity. Shiro's eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, and unlike most other people, he was easily capable of seeing well in the dark. He finds a clearing and sits down. He takes off both of his swords, examining both of their blades. Each blade had pulsing blue circuit like lines running the length of the blade. For some reason, they were pulsing a deeper blue than they normally would. He traces a finger across the length of blade, the light almost following his finger. He places them back on his back, the right sword going first. He frowns as he reflects on the information he 'extracted' from the mercenary leader.

* * *

 _Twenty-five minutes ago_

"Alright, tell me what you know." Shiro's unemotional yet inhumanely cold voice snaps.

"O-okay, we were hired by a splinter faction of NUNS, th-they call themselves "Red Veil," and they wanted us to grab Walkure for them." The man's voice is shaky.

"Why?"

"They didn't tell us. They only told us that the group leader, Mikumo Guynemer took priority over the rest. That, and they paid us a lot of money. Enough to buy a new Macross-class warship. That doesn't even include the down payment we got."

Shiro's lips curve down ever so slightly. "Sounds like they really wanted the job done."

"No kidding. They even hired different mercenary groups and said that whoever got the job done the fastest would receive a bonus. But they didn't tell us about you."

"Have any of the other groups found anyone?"

"I don't know how it went, but one of the squads flying Nightmares found the redhead and the Zentradi girl, but we lost contact with them right as you showed up. As for the others, they probably found them by now, this forest is small when you have as many Valkyries as we do."

"How many Valkyries do you have deployed?"

"I don't remember the exact amount, but we have 40 or so. More are waiting in the atmosphere."

"How many ships did you bring with you?"

"Haven't I told you enough? Even if I did tell you, you and the rest of the group here are totally screwed. There's no one coming for you. No one's going to save you, and your ship is shot!"

"I don't care. Tell me everything I ask of you, and I'll let you die peacefully."

"Wait! What if I don't have anything useful to tell you?" He yelps as Shiro reaches for one of his swords. "I swear, I don't know anything else!"

Shiro narrows his eyes. "Then why do you act as though you need to live? Unless you are hiding something from me?"

"Look, kid, I just don't wanna die yet! I-I got things I wanna do!"

"Like what? Profiting off the demise of what is easily the most important singer group of the universe right now?"

"What? What're you, a fan?"

"No, unlike you, I understand the benefit that Walkure has provided this universe. Unless you intend to give me any more relevant information, it seems you have outlived your usefulness." Shiro calmly states as he draws one of his swords.

"O-OK! I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE! DON'T KILL ME YET!" The man cries out, attempting to delay his death.

"You're bluffing. I can sense it in your voice." Shiro says as he raises his arm.

"NO! WAIT-" The man's voice stops abruptly as Shiro bisects him.

Shiro turns as he holsters his sword.

 _There's a pretty good chance that Delta Platoon is going to be discovered soon. I need to head back...hopefully I'll find some members of Walkure along the way..._

As he walks away, he hears incredibly faint sounds of gunfire deeper in the woods. He sprints towards the sound, hoping to reach the group before it was too late.

* * *

 _Present time_

Shiro, after a few minutes of resting, gets up. As he turns toward the direction in which he ran, a buzz in his ear stops him. He quickly taps his earpiece.

"This is the Elysion to any Delta Platoon members. Does anyone copy?" Shiro recognized the female voice as the green-haired girl from the bridge crew. Her voice is raised, most likely due to all of the background commotion.

"Elysion, this is Delta Five. Send it." Shiro responds, somewhat relieved by the communication from the Elysion.

"We need to know what's going on down there, Delta Five."

"Both shuttles were shot down upon reaching the forest. I am not with Delta Platoon right now, but I can confirm that all members have been accounted for. All members of Walkure, except for Makina Nakajima are currently MIA. We have mercenaries deploying VF-171s and foot soldiers in the forest. Intel from one of the mercenaries suggests origin of attacking force is a sub-faction of NUNS."

"Copy that, Delta Five. Can you give us an approximate number of hostiles, both on ground and in the air?"

"According to the same mercenary, there are most likely thirty to forty-five foot soldiers. I can confirm fifteen are KIA. I estimate that there are fifteen to twenty more in the forest. There is a significant chance that they are closing in on, or are aware of Delta Platoon's current position."

"Understood."

"What is the current status of the Elysion? I don't think Delta Platoon can survive a head-on assault from the enemy."

"The Elysion's engines are completely destroyed; our reactor has gone critical and most of our offensive capabilities have been destroyed. The Aether and the Herrara are relatively undamaged, so we're still able to deploy our platoons, but our long-ranged sensors have picked up a sizable fleet entering Ragna's atmosphere. Among the carriers and cruisers is a Macross-class warship."

Shiro tenses. "Can you send reinforcements to the forest?"

"We'd need your coordinates, and we'd have to divert a platoon to escort your supplies." She replies. In the background, Shiro heard faint battle chatter.

 _"Hostiles incoming! T-point barrier power at 5%!"_

 _"Beam turrets 1-9 don't have power! Beam turrets 10-20 are destroyed!"_

 _"Redirect power from any nonessential systems to all operational defensive batteries and shield system!"_

 _"We did! There's no more power we can draw away from! Life support systems are barely functional!"_

 _"Can the Aether and Herrara launch fighters?! Distance to nearest hostile squadron is 8500 meters and closing!"_

 _"Aether still powering up! Herrara launching Alpha and Beta Platoons! Charlie Platoon Platoon readying up! Echo, Foxtrot, Gamma Platoon are all based on the Aether!"_

 _"Status on reinforcements from the local airbase?!"_

The girl on comm with Shiro gets distant as she yells back. "We got a response! Two squadrons are on their way right now! The base is launching twenty more! ETA fifteen minutes!"

"Sorry, Delta Five. I don't think we can spare anything right now."

Shiro silently curses. "Understood. Have you tried to contact the others?"

"They didn't respond. There is a possibility that they may be unable to receive our signals, or something else."

"What's stopping you from sending Delta Platoon their Siegfrieds right now?"

"If the airspace is currently filled with hostile Nightmares, they'd probably be shot down." An explosion in the background interrupts her. "I have to get back to my other duties, Delta Five. I'm sorry we can't help you anymore, but until the airspace clears up a bit and we get some breathing room, we can't risk resources being wasted needlessly."

"Understood, Elysion. I will move to protect Delta Platoon and Walkure. Delta Five, out."

With that, he starts to run the direction he came from. As he runs, he takes note of the distant explosions in the sky. There are streaks from Valkyries dogfighting in the skies above the forest, which somewhat confused Shiro.

 _I thought the Elysion couldn't send us reinforcements or supplies...Unless it's not the Elysion's fighters, which means a third party is present. If that's the case, then who-_

His thoughts are interrupted as instincts take over. He barely manages to dodge a dark blue Valkyrie crashing into the ground directly in front of him. It didn't look like a Nightmare, nor did it remotely resemble a Siegfried. It had large hexagonal wings on its back, and it had a gunpod in its hand, although said hand and arm were blown clean off. As Shiro ducks behind a tree, he identifies the Valkyrie that lands near him as a Siegfried. Shiro did a double take when he saw the insignia on its back, because it was incredibly similar to the insignia on Hayate's Siegfried. The Siegfried turned its arm-mounted gunpod and unleashed a barrage at the dark blue Valkyrie's torso. Shiro climbs the tree he was hiding behind to get a better view of both the aerial battle and the Siegfried in front of him. The Siegfried must've somehow been alerted to Shiro's presence, because it switched to Battroid mode and turned its head in Shiro's general direction. After scanning the trees, it stops directly at Shiro. Shiro stares back at the Siegfried, the two staring each other off. Somehow, it felt as if neither of them had the upper hand as they locked gazes. After a minute or so, the Siegfried pointed in the direction that Shiro was going, then made a four sign with its fingers before switching back to Gerwalk mode and blasting off back into the sky. Shiro gazed at the Siegfried until he couldn't make it out clearly amongst the flurry of fighters engaging each other.

 _That Siegfried...Is that...What did it mean by 'four?' Four miles? Four minutes? I need to hurry._

He puts aside his thoughts and jumps down the tree. He runs over to the downed Valkyrie and climbs on the torso. He checks the cockpit to see if the Valkyrie was still usable. The pilot is confirmed dead, as his body is nothing more than a bloody red pulp. The sight doesn't faze Shiro, and as he scans the instruments, he exhales softly. The cockpit is completely shredded, which doesn't surprise Shiro in the least. He jumps down and begins a steady sprint towards shuttle two's crash site.

After six minutes of sprinting, he hears a pair of female voices, both of which are close, yet at the same time, distant. He slows down somewhat, trying to identify the voices. He recognizes one of them as Kaname's, the other is very soft. He turns his head towards their voices and spots a head of red hair closer to him than he expected. He turns toward Kaname and begins moving closer to her. When Shiro got within 3 or so meters of Kaname, her head turned and her eyes widened. Shiro saw her dash behind a pile of fallen trees, and he saw a tuft of light green that didn't match the woods follow Kaname. As he nears the pile, he hears heavy breathing and a soft groan. He looks around for any potential threats, and seeing that there were none, he mantles the pile of logs just in time to see Kaname throw herself at him. The action only moved Shiro back a foot or so, as Shiro caught Kaname with ease. Kaname looked surprised for a second before her eyes flickered recognition.

"S-Shiro?" Her voice is incredulous, as if she didn't expect him.

"Yes, Kaname, it's me." Shiro calmly responds as he gently releases Kaname.

"How did you-nevermind. Do you know how the others are?"

"I do not know the current status of Mikumo or Freyja. Before I left the rest of Delta Platoon to search for you all, Makina managed to find us, so she is with them right now."

"Oh. Were you on your way back to them?"

"Yes; I believe they are in danger of a potential assault from the remaining foot soldiers in the forest." Shiro says as his eyes narrow slightly.

"What? How close are they?" Kaname's eyes widen.

"I do not know, but I came across a Siegfried that appears to be from a third party. It gave me a sort of signal pertaining to this direction."

Kaname freezes, an action Shiro duelly notes. "Wh- a Siegfried?" She pauses. "Nevermind that, we need to get back to the others."

"Allow me to stop you there, Kaname." Shiro calmly says. "Do not take this the wrong way, but if you went with me to the battle, you would most likely slow me down and hold me back to an extent."

Kaname looks at him, her eyes both surprised and not. "What do you suggest we do, then?"

"I said you shouldn't follow me to battle, I did not say you shouldn't follow me at a distance."

"Oh, okay. I assume I should bring Reina?"

Shiro turns to the pile of logs and sees a barely conscious Reina leaning back.

"Took you long enough to notice me." She looks at him and gives him a weak smile.

Shiro frowns, something neither of the girls expected. "I can hardly hear your heartbeat." He walks over to Reina scanning her body. "You've lost too much blood, you shouldn't be moving."

"Well, it wasn't easy to treat this with what you gave us." Reina teases lightly.

Shiro scans her legs, both of which have bandages that have been bled through. "It doesn't matter if you're being serious or not, it's still my fault you've been placed in this situation." He takes out a roll of gauze and a few bandage pads from his jacket. He also takes out a strange packet.

Reina puts a hand on Shiro's. "Don't waste it on me. It's not that bad."

Shiro ignores her. "If it isn't a serious wound, then I should be able to do this without causing you pain." He gently touches her thigh. Reina lets out a soft cry as her eyes bulge.

A sound makes Shiro's head snap towards the direction from which it came. He looks at Kaname, who had her head turned in the same direction.

"Kaname, use this on Reina." He tosses Kaname the packet. "It's a fast-acting clotting agent. Remove her bandages quickly and lightly cover her wound. Don't wait for it to absorb her blood; wrap it up quickly. Also, make sure you hold her down. It will most likely be painful for her." Shiro pulls one of his swords off his back, the action basically silent. He positions himself directly between the direction of the sound and the two girls, taking up a stance.

Kaname nods. She kneels next to Reina and begins on her thigh. As she removes the bandages, Reina tenses in pain, desperately trying to hold back whatever noise would come out of her mouth. Kaname tears a small slit in the packet.

"Okay, Reina. I'm going to put it on on the count of three." Kaname says as she pulls off the last of the bandages, revealing the open wound. "1...2...3." As she put the clotting agent on Reina, the latter let out a cry of pain, gasping and sweating profusely. Kaname worked quickly, as the whole ordeal only took twelve minutes, but for the green-haired singer, it felt like an hour.

"I'm finished, Reina. It's over." Kaname looks at Reina, who is breathing heavily.

"Hah, it still hurts a lot, but I'm not bleeding anymore, right?"

"Yeah, you're not bleeding anymore. You still can't push yourself, though."

"I don't intend to. Not when we have Shiro." She smiles weakly at the poised bodyguard. "I think I actually might have the liberty to take a nap now."

"Don't hold your breath. We're about to move out."

"I don't think we can keep up with him."

"You don't have to." Shiro says as he stands up normally. "I only need you two to follow me at a close enough distance so you're within easy reach of me."

"Well, if that's the case, should we get going?" Kaname asks.

"Wait for one more minute. I do not think we should risk her wounds reopening." Shiro says as he holsters his sword. "Besides, even if we decided to move as fast as possible, I doubt we would reach the group to properly prepare for an attack."

"Speaking of which, did you manage to contact the Elysion? Find out what's going on?" Kaname asks.

"I'll give you a general rundown of the situation. I think I should explain everything I know when everyone else is present."

"How are you going to find Mikumo and Freyja? We don't even know where they are."

"I have a strong feeling that they'll find us. That, or they've been captured by the enemy."

"How do you know that they're together?" Reina adds.

"If they've been captured, how are you going to bring them back? Unless you're prioritizing them over us?" Kaname softly questions.

"For one thing, it _is_ my job to do so. Also, judging by the way I've found you two and Makina, I'm almost certain that Mikumo and Freyja are together. You don't have to worry about this, though. I'll bring them both back."

"How can you be so sure?" The two singers ask in unison.

Shiro turns around and gives a small smile. "I've saved you all from a desperate situation once. Why wouldn't I be able to do it again?"

"We got lucky?" Reina asks.

Shiro turns back around to face the direction they were going. "Luck had nothing to do with it. Are you two ready?"

Kaname picks up Reina to ride on her back. "Go. We'll follow as close as we can."

Shiro turns to look at the two out of the corner of his eye. "Don't lose sight of me. There's no time to waste."

He turns and starts sprinting. Kaname tries to keep up with him, but inevitably, she falls behind. As they run, they start to hear sounds of shouting and gunfire echo through the trees. After about ten minutes, Shiro stops and holds his fist up. Kaname stops, her breathing heavy. Shiro turns around to look at Kaname.

"You need to rest."

"I'm ok for now, let's keep going."

"That wasn't a question, Kaname. You don't need to lie to me about your condition. I can tell you're exhausted, and I would prefer you rest now rather than give out during the battle."

Kaname exhales. "Okay." She gently lets Reina down next to a tree before sitting next to her and leaning back.

"You haven't gotten much sleep, have you?" Shiro asks as he scans the environment in front of them.

"No, I haven't. Not with all this going on." Kaname remarks, looking around as the sounds of gunfire echo ever louder through the trees.

"I believe we are close to the fight." Shiro says as he focuses on a grey object in the distance. "I can see the shuttle from here." As he focuses on the area around the shuttle, he can make out small, quick flashes of orange on multiple sides.

"Then let's go." Kaname says, standing up.

Shiro looks at her, skeptical. "This is your last warning. If you cannot keep up, I am not responsible for keeping your pace."

"I'm well aware, Shiro. Even if you left us behind, if the enemy retreated, there's a good chance they'd come across us, so if that has to be the case, I think it's best if we're a little closer."

"Then let's go." Kaname picks up Reina again, and Shiro draws both of his swords. As they both start running, Kaname looks on, impressed.

 _Perceptive, focused, calm, and terribly efficient. Quite the man to hire for the Star Singer, if I do say so myself._

Kaname chuckles to herself as she jogs at her own pace. Reina's head perks up slightly at the sound of Kaname's laugh.

"What's so funny, Kaname?" Reina sounds less groggy and pained.

"Shiro is." Kaname replies.

"How so?"

"He's simply amazing, it's like how we first met Mikumo. That in itself raises a few questions, doesn't it?"

"You think he might be a living weapon like Mikumo?"

"I wouldn't be surprised."

"Well, that makes for two overpowered people on our side."

"Hmph. I feel like they're going to be the next duo in our group."

"You mean like Hayate and Freyja?"

"Who knows? I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens when Mikumo sings around Shiro." Kaname says as Shiro gives her a signal to split away and hide.

"I have something to look forward to now, other than getting out of the forest with everyone."

"I guess you'll have to leave that to Shiro."

As they took up a hiding position behind a large tree, Shiro continued to sprint towards the battle. As he closed in, he felt something was off when he heard the gunfire stop abruptly. Before he could wonder what had happened, he received his answer.

* * *

Well, this chapter was a bit shorter than the last few, but the next chapter will be out soon, hopefully. I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you all later!


	13. Chapter 13

_Shuttle Two's site, fifteen minutes earlier_

Chuck, Hayate and Arad had taken up positions around the shuttle, facing the direction the gunfire came from. Mirage, by then, had already woken up and was tending to Makina inside of the shuttle. Chuck was near a tree when the bullets started flying, so he immediately took cover behind the trees. Arad and Hayate were near the shuttle, so the two of them had went inside of the shuttle and aimed their rifles through parts of the broken hull. They couldn't clearly see who was firing at them, so they mostly held their fire until they saw people advance. The men approaching them shouted at them and each other as they advanced, but most of their voices were drowned out by the gunfire. It was difficult to see clearly, although it was evident their attackers had the advantage in numbers, but not in skill. Most of the shots hit empty spots on the shuttle or missed outright. The minutes dragged on as both sides exchanged shots. Only the attackers suffered any casualties, but their losses were minimal, to say the least. No one could confirm, but the attackers numbered around twenty to thirty, which meant they were going to run out of ammunition before they were going to repel their attackers.

After about thirteen or so minutes, they were down to the last of their ammunition. As if aware of this, a man in distinctly different armor came up through the trees with at least four men, all of whom had cross-shaped energy glowing in front of them. The rounds bounced harmlessly off of the it, while the attackers were able to fire through their barrier. They quickly began to advance on the shuttle until they were close enough to make direct eye contact with the two pilots in the shuttle. While this was happening, Chuck found himself surrounded and had to surrender. As the men surrounded the shuttle, two of them breached the hole Shiro had made in the shuttle's hull and held Mirage and Makina at gunpoint, forcing Hayate and Arad to surrender. They were quickly dragged out, while Mirage had to carry Makina out, as she was still badly injured. They were forced to kneel in a cluster on the ground, save for Makina, who was barely conscious. Three of the men were carrying post-like objects with them, and when everyone had been settled, they set it up in a perimeter around the group. The lights flickered on, illuminating the area around them enough to where they could see clearly, but not so bright as to give away their position to nearby Valkyries, which were engaged in a fierce aerial dogfight above the area.

"So this is the infamous Delta Platoon, huh? The one that went toe to toe with Windermere's elite Aerial Knights?" The leader taunts as he kicks Arad in the ribs.

Arad coughs a bit as Hayate shoots back. "Yeah, that'd be us. Want an autograph?"

The leader smiles sickly at Hayate. "I'll do you one better, kid. I'll make you kiss my ass."

Hayate continues, unfazed. "Untie me, and we'll see about that. I'll bet my mother hits harder than you."

The leader laughs, and punches Hayate in the face. "I know your weakness, and I have it right here. Let's see how long you can keep up the tough guy act."

He motions to one of the men. He turns to the group behind him and nods. Another man comes out of the group, with Freyja in his arm. The Windermerean singer was somewhat doubling over as she walked, and she has bruises littering her body. Hayate's eyes widen as they fixate on the battered Freyja. The man holding Freyja brought her close enough to the group so that there would be no doubt, but just out of Hayate's reach, in the event he rushed her captor.

"H-Hayate..." Freyja weakly groaned.

"Freyja!" Hayate's expression flickers from shock to rage. "What the hell did you do to her?!"

"Nothing too brutal, I assure you. I had to reserve myself until I brought you two together." The leader says as he walks over to Freyja. "I wanted you to see this." He motions to the the man holding her.

He nods as he twists both of Freyja's arms behind her back to restrain her. Freyja's eyes widen as she realizes what he intended to do. The leader grabs Freyja's cheek with one hand and plants his mouth over hers. Freyja's eyes bulge as she lets out a muffled cry. She struggles frantically as the man holds her down. At the same time, the leader's other hand slipped down to Freyja's lower region and she jerked back as she screamed, desperately trying to escape the leader's revolting touch. The leader began to pull down Freyja's shorts, revealing her light pink underwear. She let out a muffled scream as he began to rub her crotch and kiss her simultaneously. Time slowed down for the couple; Hayate felt his muscles burn and his heart wrench as the leader molested Freyja; Freyja twisted and squirmed as she felt herself get violated. After what seemed like an hour, the leader disengages from Freyja. She coughs and spits out the contents of her mouth. She trembled as she struggled to hold back her tears.

"That was just a taste of what is to come." The leader grins evilly as he looks at the furious and restrained Hayate.

"You son of a bitch, I'll kill you!" Hayate roars at the leader. He struggles against the man holding him down, and starts to stand up, despite the man's best efforts.

The leader looks back at the group of men behind him and motions for two more. The two men push Hayate to the ground, but somehow still struggle to keep him down completely.

"Well, well, you're quite the energetic one. I hope you can stomach more, because I'm just warming up." The leader grins evilly. He looks at Mirage, who is glaring daggers at him. "She looks like she may be close to you. It doesn't matter, but it looks like she'll be some fun too." He looks at the man restraining her. "Bring her here."

Mirage struggles against her captor as he stands her up and begins to bring her over to the leader. The leader gives Mirage a twisted smile, and in response, Mirage high kicks him in the chin, sending the leader tumbling back. He gets up, spitting out a little blood.

"You'll pay for that, bitch." The leader growls.

"Try me." Mirage replies.

The leader walks toward Mirage, and as she raises her leg to kick him again, he pulls out a straight edged knife and stabs her calf. Mirage screams in pain as the leader lets her limp leg fall to the ground.

"Dammit! Leave her alone, you bastard!" Hayate roars at the leader.

"Make her stand on her other leg." He barks to the mercenary holding her. "Also, tie up her arms."

Mirage winces in pain as the man holding her forces her to stand on one leg and tightly ties up her wrists. She realizes that the leader had left his knife in her leg. She grimaces as the leader cups her chin. She tries to turn her head away, but he keeps an iron grip on her.

"Now then," the leader smirks at Mirage, "Let's have some fun, shall we?" He grabs her shirt and yanks on it, the fabric quickly giving way. Mirage winces as he exposes her sports bra underneath. He ignores the shouts of protest from the rest of the pilots behind him as he pulls on her bra, ripping it off. He grins as he slowly traces a finger under breasts, the action making Mirage bite her lip. She struggles to avoid showing any signs of breaking, but a soft whimper escapes her lips as his hands travel over her breasts. Mirage struggles to free herself as the leader then gropes one of her exposed breasts. She cries out and tries to pull away, ignoring the man behind her. He squeezes hard and she screams, twisting in every way possible, ignoring the hot pain from her leg.

"What a lovely body for a pilot." The leader grins as he leans in close to Mirage. "I can't wait to make you mine." He whispers in Mirage's ear. Her eyes widen in horror at the prospect of ravaged by the man standing before her.

A series of gunshots interrupts them, and as they turn toward the sound, they see Mikumo leaning against a nearby tree with a pistol in her hand. Her captors are on the ground, writhing in pain as blood pools around them. Mikumo turns toward the leader, giving him a glare capable of melting steel.

"Hoh, sure didn't take you long to wake up. You're quite resilient, if I do say so myself." He grins as Mikumo aims the pistol at him. Before she can fire, he shoots the gun out of her hands, the bullet grazing her shoulder. Mikumo grunts as she flinches. She grabs a tree to steady herself, but as she looks back, the leader is directly in front of her. Before she can react, he grabs her by the neck and throws her in front of everyone. Her body skids a few times before coming to a stop. Mikumo coughs as she struggles to get up, unaware of the leader coming up from behind her. He grabs her by her hair and yanks her up before releasing her to wrap an arm around her neck. Mikumo tries to free herself, but the leader uses his free arm to pull out a second knife from his belt. The knife, unlike the first one, was serrated. Mikumo saw the knife plunge into her stomach at an offset angle. She cries out, and coughs up blood. The leader throws her to the ground, causing her to cry out in pain. The blood from her stomach steadily begins to form a pool around her. Mikumo felt her vision blur back and forth.

"You need to learn your lesson, my dear. You see, I have little patience for your insolence. You think you can leverage yourself to me in your favor, but it's not quite what you think." The leader narrows his eyes at her as she writhes on the ground. "I only have to bring you back in one piece, they never said I had to bring you back _alive_. So, to save myself some trouble, I think I'll end this little charade of yours right now." The other men look at each other, confusion in their eyes. He looks down at her as he pulls out a pistol and aims it at her. Mikumo's eyes widen before she shuts them and tenses, waiting for her imminent death.

* * *

 _As the gunfight began, in the forest_

Shiro, after making sure that Kaname and Reina were out of sight, sprinted towards the shuttle. The area around the shuttle itself was illuminated by flashes of gunfire, some in bursts, some in single fire, others in continuous spraying. Shiro noticed that all of the men were spread far out and had a significant amount of space in between each man. Which meant that, even if he were to attack them, he would quickly lose the element of surprise. He also knew that in doing so, he risked being hit by Delta Platoon, who probably didn't even know he was there. So he decided to wait it out, hoping to find a decent enough opening to take out as many men as possible. Shiro also noted that the men were equipped with different armor and weapons than the first group he encountered. It seemed that the information he got from the mercenary he interrogated earlier was correct. Whoever was after Mikumo had essentially set up the whole thing as a competition, with the prize being an unreal amount of money. The gunfight lasted longer than Shiro expected, as he didn't remember bringing that much ammunition. After about twelve minutes, the gunfire started to die down on the shuttle's side, and Shiro focused on the four men behind the firing line. Each man was putting together a large metal cross, and as they attached it to their wrists, Shiro frowned. He turned his attention to a spot of violet hair and orange fluff near the four men.

 _So Mikumo and Freyja were captured... I can't rescue them right now. There are too many men surrounding them, and even if I managed to kill the men around them, I can't carry both of them and guarantee their safety. Damn it._

Shiro grits his teeth as he watches both of them get dragged up by six men behind the firing line. He scans the group to count how many men there were.

 _Six to hold them hostage. Four men with shields of some sort. One leader. Twelve men advancing on the shuttle. Twenty three total. This will be a challenge._

As the men advance, Shiro silently tails them at a distance, searching for any openings he could exploit. Seeing as there were none, he maneuvers around the battle, similar to how a predator would circle its prey. By the time Delta Platoon was forced to surrender, Shiro had already circled the entire area around the shuttle without being detected. Seeing as there were no openings, he stayed behind the group from the direction in which they came from. He instinctively jumped back behind a tree when they set up and turned on the light posts. It was obviously advantageous for them to set up lights in the area to increase their visibility. However, it was also disadvantageous in that Shiro could clearly see the positions of the men, even the ones standing on the opposite sides of the light.

 _Four men, one for each pilot. Freyja and Mikumo take up four people, so that's eight. Plus the leader is nine. Fourteen men holding the line._

The apparent leader designated the rest of his men who weren't holding Mikumo and Freyja to set up a semi-circle around the unilluminated side of the lights. Shiro silently started to move toward his right, hoping to expose their weakened flanks. As Shiro was moving, the apparent leader had the men restraining Freyja come forward in full view of the rest of the group. Their reactions, to say the least, weren't positive. Hayate's especially, Shiro noted, was one of shock and anger. As Shiro made it into his position, he witnessed something that would disgust him to the point of anger. The leader had his mouth planted over Freyja's, and she was clearly against it. Shiro frowned at the action when the leader decided to go further and expose Freyja's underwear and touch her in places she wouldn't let anyone touch. Hayate was on the verge of breaking free and killing the leader, as the man holding him was clearly having trouble keeping him down. The leader motioned for two more men on top of the existing one to restrain Hayate.

 _That's two less men guarding their backs. That makes twelve men guarding the line. I have to move._

Shiro hoped that was the last of it, but the leader was unknowingly out to prove him wrong. Deciding to move while everyone was preoccupied, Shiro drew both of his swords and stabbed the nearest man in the spine and in the head. As his body was falling, Shiro pushed off of a nearby tree and sliced apart three men, all of whom were standing in a straight line. The sound of bodies hitting the ground must've drawn someone's attention, because one of the men turned in Shiro's direction. Shiro, not wasting any time, pushed off the ground in dashes toward the remaining men. He sliced the one closest to him in an X pattern, his pieces splattering the ground. The next man had his arm sliced off before his head was split apart horizontally.

 _Six down. Six more to go._

Shiro moved faster when he heard Mirage's scream. The remaining men noticed something was wrong, and they began to move towards the shuttle. Shiro made a tch sound as he sprinted towards the retreating men. He slid towards two of them, slicing their legs and stabbing both of them in the head as they fell backwards. Three men stopped and turned around to aim at Shiro. They froze when they saw nothing but blood splatters and body parts lying on the ground, but no sign of their attacker. They were distracted by gunshots that weren't fired by them, so none of them realized that Shiro had side stepped out of their field of vision. They didn't have a second to react as Shiro pierced the first man in the side before bringing his sword up and half bisecting the man. Not allowing them any breathing room, Shiro kicks one of the two remaining men into the other. They slam against a tree, and before they can recover, Shiro stabs both of them in the jugular. He turns and sees the last one nearing the clearing. He sprints as fast possible, and realizing that he would lose the advantage of surprise either way, he throws one of his swords at the man. It finds its mark, as it impales the man. Before he falls, Shiro grips the sword in him as he pierces the man a second time.

* * *

 _Present time_

The sound of a man screaming makes everyone turn to see the bloodbath behind them. Every soldier that wasn't restraining a pilot or singer lie in pieces on the ground, trails of blood leading to the clearing with the shuttle. The only man in one piece was being pierced by two silver blades with blue circuit like lines on it. The man makes a choking sound before the blades piercing him retreat and his body is sent skidding across the ground. Everyone freezes at the sight of Shiro standing there, not one drop of blood on his body or his swords. He wasn't facing the group when he split the man apart, and he looks around before focusing on the group. His eyes narrow as he focuses on the leader, who still had his pistol aimed at Mikumo

"Who the fuck are you?" The leader glares at him. He turns and fires multiple times at Shiro. Without even looking, Shiro deflects some of the bullets, the others hitting the trees behind him.

Shiro doesn't respond as he makes eye contact with Mikumo, who can barely stay conscious, the pool of blood around her growing ever larger. He walks toward her, ignoring the other men.

"Hey, answer me, you-" The leader manages before Shiro kicks him hard enough to punch through the shuttle's hull with his body.

Shiro slowly turns toward the other men restraining the group members. "If you don't want to die, throw down your weapons and let them go."

The men look at each other before releasing the pilots and singers. They throw down their weapons before putting their hands behind their backs and backing away. He walks towards Mikumo, who is on her side, bleeding. She looks at Shiro, her eyes distant. He picks her up gently, rolling her on her back as he carries her towards the group. He lays her on the ground and tears off a part of her shirt. The bandage on her side is soaked with blood, although it wasn't even meant for her most recent wound. Mikumo groans as Shiro takes out a packet and some bandages. He tears it open and pours it on her wound. Mikumo screams as her body jerks. Shiro gently holds her down with his free arm as he wraps the bandages around her stomach tightly. She coughs up some more blood before her body stops squirming. She makes a pained sound as Shiro finishes tying the bandages. One of the men behind Shiro grabs a gun off the ground and fires at Shiro. He doesn't even turn around as the bullet impacts one of the swords on his back. Mikumo looks at him, worried that he would be injured, but he simply rubs her head and smiles gently at her. He takes a small pad out and wipes the blood off her face. Mikumo blushes as her heart skips a beat.

He leans in and whispers in her ear, "Don't worry, I'll be right back."

She looks at him, unsure of what to say. He slowly stands up as the man fires again. In a split second, Shiro draws both of his swords and flicks the bullets aside. The man makes a sound as Shiro dashes toward him, appearing directly in front of him in seconds. Shiro stabs the man dead center in the chest with both swords and finishes the man in a similar way to the last man. The body leaves a long bloody trail that begins at Shiro's feet. The remaining men look utterly horrified as Shiro walks toward them, a neutral expression on his face. They back up as he nears, and Shiro looks all of them square in the eye.

"This is your last warning. The next person that acts up will get all of you killed. Better yet, if you have any useful information, speak now or get lost." Shiro's even voice and expression unnerves all of them. They all stare in a mixture of shock and awe as Shiro turns away and walks back to Mikumo. He picks up a medkit lying on the ground.

Shiro kneels in front of her, examining her body. He focuses on her wounded knee. The wound had already started to close up, although Shiro could see the bullet. He looks at Mikumo, who is dizzy, both from her past ordeal and the small but existent affection from her bodyguard. He puts a hand on her head, and she looks at him, her eyes slightly wider and her cheeks flushed a light pink.

"I'm going to try to take the bullet in your knee out before it closes up all the way, okay?"

She nods. Shiro gently turns her leg to expose the bullet wound. Mikumo looks off to the side while Shiro takes out a pair of tweezers from the nearby medkit. As he pinches the bullet with the tweezers, Mikumo inhales sharply, her body tense. Shiro quickly pulls it out, tossing the bullet aside. Mikumo yelps as Shiro pours the rest of the packet's contents in her wound. As he bandages her knee, Mikumo gazes at Shiro intently. She quickly became lost in her thoughts when Shiro finished bandaging her knee, and didn't notice Shiro looking back at her until he leaned in close to look into her eyes. She also didn't notice that she had leaned forward to look at Shiro either. She snaps to attention, and lets out a small squeak as she pulls back, hitting her head a little too hard on the ground. She rubs the back of her head with her uninjured arm before realizing that Shiro was looking at her with a strange expression. It seemed he was trying to figure out the reason why she was acting the way she was. He sits her up and bandages her shoulder.

"Shiro?"

"Yes, Mikumo?"

Mikumo pauses, unsure of how to continue. She looks around, at the rest of the group, and at the trail of bodies Shiro left behind. Shiro follows her gaze, and he immediately guessed what she was thinking about.

"I'm sorry you had to witness all of that. I couldn't risk you getting hurt anymore-" Shiro begins.

"Why did you rub my head?" Mikumo asks, throwing Shiro for a loop. He stops and looks at her. Mikumo had a noticeable blush on her cheeks and Shiro suddenly found it very hard to tear his eyes away from her.

"...Does it bother you?" Shiro asks, still completely confused.

"No, it's just..." Mikumo averts her gaze, finding the ground easier to talk to. "No one's ever done that before, and...it feels...strange..." She couldn't quite put the feeling into words.

"I'm sorry if that bothers you, Mikumo. I'll stop-"

Mikumo puts her hands on Shiro's shoulders before she could stop herself. "N-no, it's fine, I...uh...don't mind..." Her crimson eyes meet his onyx eyes.

They stare at each other, and Mikumo subconsciously realized both of them had leaned in closer to each other since they started talking, and they were very close to each other. Mikumo felt Shiro's firm muscles under his jacket, and Shiro swore he smelled cinnamon. They stayed like that until someone coughed. They both twitch and snap their heads toward the sound and find that everyone, including Kaname and Reina are staring at them with various expressions. It was only then did the two realize the positions they were in and promptly separated. Mikumo's cheeks stayed a light pink, while Shiro backed away slightly and cleared his throat, looking towards the shuttle. Everyone either giggled, chuckled, or outright laughed at the two of them. Shiro and Mikumo look back at each other with strange expressions.

"Ehm, it would appear that everyone else is in decent condition." Shiro softly remarks to Mikumo.

"It would appear so. At least they're in good spirits." Mikumo replies.

"Hey, the new guy's moving ahead in a relationship faster than I am." Chuck makes a face.

"You two need to hurry up and kiss already." Makina teases.

"Geez, if you're going to stare at each other like that, you might as well." Reina adds.

"I think it's great that you guys are gonna date." Freyja chimes as Hayate hugs her from behind.

"They suit each other pretty well if you ask me." Hayate says, smirking.

"I thought Mikumo was only three; shouldn't they wait a bit?" Mirage raises an eyebrow as she wraps the remains of her shirt around her chest.

"Let them move at their own pace. Relationships can't be rushed like that." Kaname smiles.

"Kaname's right. It's like they say; 'Jellyfish taste better the longer they swim together." Arad leans against the shuttle.

 _Nobody says that..._ was everyone's collective thoughts.

Mikumo blushes outright while Shiro maintains a straight face, although everyone could tell he was bothered. An audible groan draws their attention. Shiro walks over to the shuttle, where there was a relatively recent hole in the shuttle's hull. He looks in it to see the leader sprawled out on the floor of the shuttle. Shiro turns around to face the group.

"What would you all like to do with him?"

They all look at each other, the previous fifteen minutes not forgotten. Hayate, Freyja, and Mirage looked at each other, their expressions hard.

"How badly is he already injured?" Mirage and Hayate ask in unison.

Shiro turns around and a minute later, drags out the leader's limp body. Everyone stares at him, their expressions a mix of anger and coldness. Shiro leaves him in front of everyone.

"I do not believe he is in any condition to be interrogated via physical means." Shiro says as examines the leader's body.

"What do you mean?" Arad asks, a frown on his face.

"It would appear that I shattered his spine and rib cage when I kicked him into the shuttle, so it is highly likely that he cannot feel anything below his neck." Shiro stoically remarks.

Everyone looks at him, their faces both surprised and not.

"So what do we do with him?" Mirage asks.

"I leave that decision in your hands. I am well aware of what he has done, but he has not done anything to me personally, and from what I can tell, everyone else has... _conflictions_ with him."

"Can he talk?" Hayate glares at him as he puts himself between his closest companions and the unmoving leader.

"I am almost certain of it. I am also fairly certain that he can turn his head as well." Shiro says as he looks at him.

"Leave him. If we can't get anything out of him without hurting him, there's no use trying." Arad says as he leans against the battered shuttle.

"What are we going to do with him then?" Chuck asks.

"Why don't we ask his subordinates?" Arad responds as he looks towards the five men still standing there. They flinch when they realize they had everyone's attention.

"Well? What do you all think?"

They all look at each other, nervousness evident on their faces. One of them opens his mouth to say something, but a blaring scream drowns him out. Seconds later, an a teal object slams into the ground where they were standing. Almost everyone is knocked to the ground, half deafened by the noise. When they get up, the dust had partially settled, revealing a mangled and battered VF-22 in Gerwalk mode resting on where the five men used to be. The familiar sound of a Siegfried's guns firing fills their ears. Everyone looks up to see a Siegfried fly directly above them and transform into Gerwalk mode. It blasts a dozen missiles out of the sky before switching back to fighter mode and accelerate near vertically, giving everyone a brief glimpse of the insignia on its back. At that point, everyone forgot about the leader and his pancaked minions. After a minute or so of complete silence between the group, Hayate speaks.

"Did anyone else see that?" Hayate's expression is one of disbelief.

"Wasn't that..." Chuck trails off.

"It can't be..." Mirage stares.

"Oh, it is." Kaname says. Everyone turns to her to see she had a smile on her face.

"Kana-Kana, are you okay?" Makina asks, worried Kaname had lost it.

"How is that possible?" Freyja asks.

"He didn't say, but that's definitely Messer-kun." Kaname states.

"I don't remember meeting him. When did this happen, Kaname?" Reina asks, shock in her voice.

"It happened when you were unconscious. He knocked out all of the Valkyries that had surrounded us. He also told us which direction to go to find the shuttle."

"What did he tell you?" Arad asks, his tone neutral.

"He told me to take the padding off of his old seat, if it still existed."

"You mean his Siegfried?" Makina asks, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah. Is it still around the Elysion somewhere?"

"It should be among the scrap parts somewhere on the Aether, I think."

"That reminds me," Shiro interjects, "I managed to make contact with the Elysion in the last twenty minutes or so."

Everyone turns to him.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT SOONER?" All of the pilots gape at him.

"For one thing, I did not believe that telling you all while Freyja and Mirage were being molested and Mikumo being about to be executed to be the best time to tell you all this." Shiro calmly states. "That, and I made contact with them right before I found Kaname and Reina, so I figured that telling you all when everyone was present would save us some time."

Seeing as they couldn't argue with his logic, they calmed down a bit.

"What's the situation with the Elysion?" Arad asks.

"From what I can tell, not good. The Elysion is crippled; the leg units and reactor have been destroyed, cause unknown. Our attackers are mercenaries hired by a sub-faction of NUNS known as Red Veil. I am sure I do not need to point out that they have a significantly large attacking force, so they have been pressing our forces rather tightly. The Aether and Herrara are still functional, but as you can all tell, there is a massive assault against our forces, and it would appear that we do not have the capability to repel them ourselves."

"And what about Messer coming back from the dead?" Hayate interrupts.

"That, I do not know about. I do not even know much about your friend, but it appears that he is part of a third party that is assisting us in repelling the assault."

"What evidence do you have to support that?" Mirage asks.

"On my way here, I saw multiple Valkyries that somewhat resembled a Siegfried, but had forward swept wings as opposed to a Siegfried's reverse swept wings. That, and they were engaging the Nightmares that were attacking the Elysion."

As he is speaking, a buzz in his ear makes him stop. The other pilots get the same buzz.

"Elysion to Delta Five, come in. Do you read me?" The green-haired bridge member's voice rings in their ears.

"Elysion, this is Delta Five. I have secured Delta Platoon and Walkure for the time being. Two members of Walkure are injured and require medevac. All other members are alive and well." Shiro ignores Makina's and Mikumo's soft protests.

There is a sigh of relief on the other side. "Thank god. Good work, Delta Five. Is Delta One there?"

"Elysion, this is Delta One. Good to hear your voice." Arad smiles lightly.

"Captain Johnson is currently organizing all of our platoons to defend the remaining critical areas of the Elysion, so he's a bit busy right now."

"Can you send a shuttle to our location, or if not, atleast our Siegfrieds?"

"The airspace is still pretty congested; if you want to risk your Siegfrieds being destroyed mid-flight, I can send them, but I strongly suggest you find a way to get as close to the Elysion as possible."

"Got it. I'll see what I can do."

"Good luck, Delta One. Let us know if you come up with anything."

"So what's up with the Elysion?" Hayate asks.

"They're still fending off our attackers; they can send us our Siegfrieds, but they might get shot down on their way here. We need to find a way to get close to the Elysion to minimize the risk to our Siegfrieds."

"I have an idea, Arad." Kaname interjects.

"What is it?"

"Reina, can you wire those headsets to be able to send a communication signal to a Valkyrie?"

Reina looks at her. "If I had a device that could access the same frequency as the Valkyrie's receiver, then probably. Why do you ask?"

"I think I know someone who can help us." Kaname smirks as she looks into the sky, her eyes locked on a certain Valkyrie soaring through the sky.

"I honestly want to see if that's really Messer." Reina says as she takes Mirage's earpiece. She motions for Chuck to follow her into the shuttle to see if there was anything they could salvage. As they wait, Shiro walks over to Mikumo and kneels next to her.

"How are you holding up?" Shiro softly asks.

Mikumo winces as she sits up. "I can't say I'm fine, but I'm a lot better than I was five minutes ago."

Shiro leans in to inspect her bandages. "Well, your bandages haven't bled through, so I believe that is a good sign."

Mikumo blushes as she struggles to stop herself from moving. She couldn't quite understand why she felt strange whenever Shiro got close to her, she only knew that it felt warm and tingly, especially when he rubbed her head. She had never felt so...pleasant before in her life; the only thing that compared was when she sang to her heart's content.

She didn't realize her body started to sway as she became lost in her thoughts. Her mind started to drift, and she felt herself fall.

* * *

She suddenly found herself floating in the same outer space-like mental landscape like when she sang the song of the stars. She turned around and saw nothing but emptiness; when she looked down, she saw herself wearing a strapless white dress similar to when she was captured by Roid. The only difference was the lack of pulsating purple inscriptions all over her body. She suddenly felt a presence behind her, and when she turned around, she saw a reflection of herself. She then realized it wasn't quite a reflection; her 'reflection' was wearing a collared sleeveless white dress that reached just above her ankles and seemed to glow, white fingerless forearm-length gloves, and low white heels. The 'reflection' also didn't have her offset bun on her head, and her hair, instead of reaching her calves, went down to her hips. There was a ghost image of the rest of her hair reaching her calves, although it was rather faint. The strangest thing, however, was the reflection's aura. While identical in appearance, save for her clothing, she seemed...older, to Mikumo. She was wearing a soft, honest smile, which made Mikumo strangely uncomfortable, yet at the same time, comfortable. The reflection neared Mikumo and she instinctively tried to backed up, only to realize that it did nothing, because there was no ground for her to push off of. Mikumo subconsciously wondered how this near mirror image of herself was moving, but was far more occupied when she found herself face to face with, well, _herself_.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Mikumo. I am you, after all." 'Her' voice is identical to Mikumo's, yet the way the words flowed out made her seem like a totally different person.

Mikumo couldn't find the words for a minute. "Who are you? What's going on? Where am I?" The questions were spilling out of her, as she was helpless to stop it.

'She' smiles gently. "I'll tell you who I am later. You're in your own mind right now. Your body is badly injured, and needs to rest. I also need to tell you some things, I figured this would be a good opportunity to do so."

"Tell me what? Is something going to happen?" Mikumo asks, completely unnerved by the fact that she was basically having a conversation with herself.

"Well, the first thing I need to tell you, or rather, show you, is how to control your powers. You should know that you command a great power, one capable of saving, controlling, or destroying the lives of many." 'She' sounded very comforting, despite the weight of the topic they were discussing.

"I-I don't-" Mikumo stuttered.

"It's okay, Mikumo. You don't need to understand everything. You just need to do what I tell you."

"What is 'it?" Mikumo asks.

"Mikumo, all you need to do, is focus. You ask others this question, but you've never answered it yourself. Why do _you_ sing? For what purpose do you sing? Focus on the reason why. Focus on what drives you."

Mikumo stopped and searched the contents of her mind. 'She' was right. Mikumo didn't know why she sang, she only followed the burning passion that had been instilled in her for as long as she could remember. She racked her mind, searching for the answer.

"I-I can't answer that." Mikumo's voice falls. She felt a strange pain run through her body.

"Do not fret, Mikumo. It's okay if you do not know the answer right now. All that matters right now is that you acknowledge you have much to learn in this universe. That, and when you decide to sing, think of all the people around you. Do you care for them?"

Mikumo answered without even thinking. "I do. I don't want to be without them." She thought back to when she was captured, how inwardly scared she was. She'd never let it show to her captor, but when Chaos retreated from Windermere, she was crushed. The gravity of the situation hit her like the Elysion would a bug on the ground; the coldness of being alone, then being forced to sing a song that she didn't know would have disastrous consequences. Not to mention the flood of memories that both didn't belong to her directly, and caused her head to spiral in more ways than one. It was a horrible feeling, one she would much rather not experience again.

"Very well, then." 'She' seemed very pleased with Mikumo's response. "I do not have much time before your mind loses its grip in this plane, so I must make sure I complete two things."

"What-" Mikumo starts.

A purple pulse knocks her out.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in the outside world_

Shiro caught Mikumo as her torso fell backwards. He gently shook her as he checked her injuries for any signs of anything worth noting. He knelt as he placed her head on his lap. Shiro looked up to see if anything around them had changed. Seeing as nothing had happened, he turned his head to Arad.

"Arad, does Mikumo have a history of passing out?" His neutral tone betrays the concern he has for the violet-haired singer.

"No, why?" Arad turns around, inspecting Mikumo.

"It seems that she has lost consciousness, and it did not seem natural to me."

"Maybe it could be that she's exhausted from her injuries?" Arad questions, not visibly concerned about Mikumo.

"I suppose that could be the case. It's just that-"

Mikumo's body suddenly twitches, and purple sparks form around her body. They were short-lived, only moving a few feet away from her actual body. Her body begins to float lightly off the ground, and a ripple effect forms around her body. It barely grazes Shiro, who had stayed still to avoid potentially harming Mikumo any further. The sparks all arc towards Shiro, who did not understand what was going on, nor perceive it as a threat. He slumps over, his body in a kneeling position with his head dipping slightly. A translucent purple bubble forms around the two of them as Mikumo's body gently touches the ground in a lying position. The singers and pilots view the entire situation unfold with utter confusion. Reina and Chuck walk out of the shuttle, completely unaware of the events that transpired a minute ago.

"Good news, Kaname. I found a tablet that I can use to modify the earpiece's signal sender to-" Reina stops when she sees the bubble with Mikumo and Shiro inside.

"Hey guys, what was that?" Chuck says as he follows Reina out. He follows everyone's gaze and looks at the bubble. "What the hell is that?"

"We have no idea." Arad and Kaname say simultaneously.

"What happened?" Reina asks.

"We have no idea." Hayate, Mirage, and Freyja say in sync.

"Are they okay?" Makina asks as she sits up.

"It looks like they're unharmed, for now." Kaname says as she approaches the bubble.

"Well, it looks like we can't do anything right now, so we should just work on fixing our workable problems." Arad says, frowning lightly at the bubble.

"Agreed." Kaname says as she turns to Reina. "You said you had a way to send a signal with our current earpieces?"

"Yeah." Reina nods. "Should we get started?"

"Yeah, we haven't got much time to waste. Hopefully they'll be back from whatever is happening by the time we finish." Kaname says.

"Wishful thinking." Hayate mutters.

* * *

 _Inside Mikumo's mind_

Shiro was momentarily blinded when the purple sparks made contact with him, and when he could see again, he found that everyone went missing. Except for Mikumo, who there were two of. That, and they were no longer on Ragna, apparently, because it looked like they were floating in space. He looked at both Mikumos and found that they were both wearing the same white strapless white dress as the other. They both also had Mikumo's signature offset bun on her head. Their facial expressions, however, were completely different. One had a small smile and had her hands behind her back, her head tilted slightly. The other looked completely confused, her eyes wide and stunned. Both slightly unnerved Shiro. The one with a smile seemed flirty yet mature, the other seemed like a flustered young girl, which also somewhat resembled Mikumo in recent experiences.

"Hello, Shiro-kun. Welcome to Mikumo's consciousness." The smiling Mikumo said.

Shiro frowned slightly. "I have a number of questions that I would like to ask, but I assume you are here to question me?"

The smiling Mikumo raised an eyebrow as she floated closer to Shiro. "You are a very perceptive man, Shiro. That, and your skill set makes you a very powerful man." Her smile disappears and her eyes narrow. "I'll get to the point. I can't tell if why someone as powerful and lethal as you is protecting us."

Shiro doesn't appear to fazed in the slightest. "You refer to yourself and her as being the same person. Does that mean that the two of you are part of Mikumo?"

The Mikumo questioning him crosses her arms. "I am what you all call the Star Singer. I am the memories of the body that the Mikumo you know inherited. She is the memories of the woman you know as Mikumo Guynemer."

"Why did you bring me into her consciousness?" Shiro asks.

"Because you are different, in ways I didn't expect." The Star Singer replies. "You are the only person that Mikumo's ever had a reaction to." Mikumo's cheeks flare in background.

"If you are going to explain these things to me, might I suggest explaining it in a way that I can understand?" Shiro calmly asks.

"If I am going to explain everything, I am going to have to affect both your mind's' perception of time significantly."

"As long as I am combat operational when I awake, I do not care." Shiro seemed unnaturally calm.

" _IF_ you awake." The Star Singer scans him skeptically.

* * *

Alright guys, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter! Also, I'd like to clarify some things, because enough people asked me about it. While I understand that Mikumo's official age is only 3, I will not be treating her like so in this story. For one thing, Mikumo is not really 3 years old, in the sense that she's experienced things most soldiers would. Also, her behavior, while erratic and random, isn't really 'childish.' I hope that satisfies you all who asked me, and I will get back to you all later!


	14. Chapter 14

Hey guys, I don't know if any of you noticed this or not, but I've been calling the other carrier for the Elysion incorrectly this whole time. Instead of _Herrara,_ it should be _Hemera,_ so it will change accordingly in later chapters. Also, it seems I have confused a Destroid with a Konig Monster; I meant to have been using the latter, but I forget names sometimes, so that will also change accordingly in the later chapters. I apologize for not noticing earlier.

* * *

 _In the outside world_

"Well, it's done. All that's left now is to see if it works." Reina says as she finishes typing on the tablet.

"I think it'll work, Reina. You've never failed us before." Kaname smiles confidently at the green-haired singer.

"I think I'm more concerned over whether or not Messer will come. If he's part of another faction, and he hasn't stepped in sooner to help us, he's probably under orders not to interact with us. Or something along those lines." Arad says, his tone flat.

"Captain's got a point. What if Messer ignores us? There's no guarantee that he'll come." Chuck adds.

"Well, we won't know until we try." Kaname says as she puts the earpiece in her ear. She taps the earpiece as she looks into the sky. "Hello? Messer-kun?"

As if on cue, one of the distant Valkyries in the sky jerks lightly, the movement basically unnoticeable to anyone on the ground. Except for the one person who had her eyes locked on said Valkyrie.

Kaname continues on. "I know you can hear me, Messer-kun. We need a hand down here, and Delta Platoon needs an assist. You don't have to come down, I just need you to do one thing for me."

All the other members of Delta Platoon put in their earpieces to hear for themselves if Messer was really back.

"Kaname, you know that as much as I want to, I can't help you directly." Messer's husky voice sounds in her ear. Everyone who had an earpiece in froze at the sound of Messer's voice.

"That's why you're not going to." Kaname smiles, her plan forming as fast as her words did. "In ten minutes, four Siegfrieds and a Kairos in diamond formation are going to launch off of the Aether. If I understand correctly, you're here with whoever you're slaving for to help us repel the attack, right?"

"I didn't think I was working _that_ hard." Messer's voice had a lighter tone than before.

"Well, aside from the fact that I'm going to give your superiors hell when I find them, there's most likely going to be a cluster of hostiles when those Valkyries launch. Which means you should focus on them, right?" Kaname smile had a slightly devious aura to it, making everyone shiver.

There is a soft chuckle on the other side of the communication. "You really are something else, Kaname. Very well, then. I will carry out my original objective."

The line closes. Kaname's smile softened as she gazed into the sky, her deep blue eyes watching the lone Siegfried throttle towards the Elysion, which was lit up by flak explosions and blue anti-aircraft tracer rounds.

"Well then, should we make the call to the Elysion?" She turns to Arad, who chuckles softly.

"I guess so."

"I can't believe Messer-san's really alive." Freyja softly remarks as she leans against Hayate.

"Me neither; but given that we definitely just heard his voice, we're all crazy or he's got a lot of explaining to do when he gets back." Hayate states blankly as he hugs Freyja closer.

"I suppose that's true; we'll probably have to wait before we get our answers, though." Mirage says as she tightens her bandages. She winced as the alcohol pad soaked into her wound.

"At least we're on track to finding out what's going on." Arad says as he taps his earpiece. "Elysion, this is Captain Arad. Do you copy?"

"Copy that, Captain. What's going on?"

"We have secured a method to defend our Siegfrieds. We also need a Kairos." Arad looks at the rest of Delta Platoon. "Do you guys think he'll need the super packs?"

The other three pilots look at each other.

"Knowing him, he'll probably won't _need_ them, but I think we should give it to him."

"Do you think we can mount more gunpods on the Kairos?" Hayate asks.

"Why?" Mirage asks.

"He really likes to dual wield stuff, so why not give him two gunpods instead of a beam cannon? I'm sure we can squeeze it in there."

"Is that even possible?" Chuck asks.

"I don't think it is." Makina coughs.

"Alright, whatever. Elysion, do you have a Kairos available?"

"We have a few left. They're not customized, though, so whoever's flying them is going to have a rough ride."

"It's gonna be Shiro."

"...Do you want extra weapons on it?"

"See if you can squeeze in two gunpods."

"I'll get back to you on that. I don't know what the Kairos can be equipped with."

There is a five minute pause before she comes back. "We can't replace the beam cannon with any of our current gun pods, but we can mount an extra rapid-fire railgun pod on each arm. Is that sufficient?"

Arad exhales softly. "Yeah, that'll do. Equip the Kairos with the standard super packs; our Siegfrieds only need the extra missile packs. Send all of the fighters in a diamond formation to our location."

"Understood. I hope whatever plan you have works."

"Me too." Arad says before he cuts the line. "Now all we have to do is wait for Shiro to come back intact."

"I think he'll be fine. This is Shiro we're talking about, after all." Kaname says as she looks into the sky again.

As they were talking, no one noticed the bubble containing Shiro and Mikumo shimmer and warp slightly.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in Mikumo's mind_

Shiro stared levelly at the Star Singer. "I understand that you don't trust me, but I feel as though I should point out that if you end up killing me, you would not be helping Mikumo."

The Star Singer tilts her head. "I never said I would kill you; I simply said that you would not awaken."

Mikumo, for one thing, felt like her mind was being dominated by everyone except herself. "Is there a remote possibility that I have a say in what happens in my mind? You keep saying that you are me, but it's like you're a completely different person."

The Star Singer turns toward Mikumo, and frowned slightly. "I am doing what is best for the both of us, Mikumo. I-"

"Then why didn't you help me when I was captured by him?" Mikumo glares at the Star Singer. "I don't understand many things, granted, but I can tell when someone has an ulterior motive, and you are no exception."

The Star Singer's eyes widen briefly before she smiles. "You are quite perceptive, Mikumo. Very well, then. I will explain everything; however, you should know that I cannot express some things in words, so I will be presenting my memories to you."

"Why is that a problem?" Mikumo asks.

"Because he may not be able to withstand the intensity of the events that transpire within these memories." The Star Singer stares levelly at Shiro.

"This is pointless. If you intend to show us, then do so already. It looks as though you are withholding something from us." Shiro flatly states.

The Star Singer glares at him before sighing. "Yes and no. I said before, I don't know if I can trust you or not; it appears that I have no choice but to do so. That being the case, I do not know the full extent of your strength, so I worry that I will be responsible for mentally destroying the one person in this universe that can adequately protect Mikumo."

"There is more to this story, right?"

The Star Singer suddenly lurches, her body visually fading in and out for a few seconds. When she speaks again, her voice is much weaker. "I've lost too much time. I can't hold on to my existence much longer."

Mikumo's eyes widen. "What? I thought you said-"

"Listen, Mikumo. I can't teach you everything; all I can do is present you with my memories. What you do with those memories is up to you." She turns to Shiro. "I hope you can back up your strength with your trustworthiness, Shiro Okumura. Know this: Even if Mikumo is willing to offer herself to you, the moment you try to hurt her in any way, shape, or form, my instincts will take over, and you will die."

Before either of them can respond, the Star Singer floated neared Mikumo and put her hand on the spot where Mikumo's heart would be. Purple energy explodes from the two of them, warping the space around them. Shiro found himself being forced back by the sudden outburst of energy. Mikumo cried out and sputtered as her back arched, her body jerking wildly. The Star Singer's body glowed purple before splitting into countless small particles that soon entered Mikumo's body. A bright light fills the space around them, blinding Shiro for a minute or so. When his vision returned, Shiro immediately turned to search for Mikumo. He found her body in a suspended animation, energy sparking off of her. Ignoring the potential risk, he approaches her and puts a hand on her shoulder. Mikumo remains unresponsive for a few seconds before her body suddenly drops. Shiro quickly catches her and holds her close. Mikumo's eyes flutter open and she turns her head before focusing on Shiro.

"Mikumo? Are you okay?" Shiro asks, unable to hide his concern for the violet haired singer.

Mikumo winces before she gently tugs at Shiro's shirt, beckoning him closer. Shiro leans in as he brings her head to his shoulder. "I'm fine, I'm just processing all the information the Star Singer dumped in my head."

"How do you feel?"

"I feel kinda tired. As much as I'd like to sleep right now, I think I need to-"

"Mikumo, just process whatever information is relevant without straining yourself anymore. We are still fighting a battle in the outside world, so I need you to at least be conscious."

Mikumo's eyes widen briefly. "Oh, that's right. I...I forgot that we were fighting." Her eyes snap to attention. "I know what to do."

"Mikumo? What are you-"

Mikumo gently puts a hand over Shiro's mouth. "Give me a minute to focus. I think I know how to keep myself going."

Shiro was about to protest when a purple pulse knocks him out.

* * *

 _The outside world_

"Captain, do you think that's normal?" Chuck asks as he points to the bubble Shiro and Mikumo were in. It was starting to get heavily distorted, the inside appearing to become warped.

"I don't think any of this is normal, but I think that might be cause for concern." Arad says as he inspects the bubble.

"I hope Kumo-Kumo doesn't get knocked out and taken away again. That wasn't fun." Makina says as she gently rubs her stomach injuries.

"I think we should just focus on the task at hand. Hopefully they'll be fine." Hayate says as he searches the sky for their incoming Siegfrieds.

"How can you be so calm about this? Mikumo and Shiro are both out cold, and we have no idea what's going on, much less if they're okay or not." Mirage frowns at Hayate.

"There's no use worrying about it, Mirage. You said it yourself; we can't do anything because we have no way of figuring anything out as it is right now. All we can do is what we do best: fly to fight. Shiro's proven himself to be capable in pretty much every situation that's been thrown at him. I think we should just trust in Shiro for now." Hayate calmly explains.

Everyone looks at Hayate. There was hardly a trace of the lazy, carefree teenager left in the serious, calm and collected pilot.

Freyja smiles and she giggles to herself. "When did you become so manly, Hayate?" She wraps her arms around him.

"Eh?" Hayate responds, not fully hearing what Freyja just said.

"Don't worry about it." Mirage smiles at Hayate.

"Your father would really be proud of you." Arad softly says.

"What's up with you guys?" Hayate asks.

"Nothing." Everyone said at once.

Hayate raised an eyebrow before turning back to the bubble. A crackling sound draws everyone's attention. The bubble distorts even further, making it hard to clearly identify the two people inside. For whatever reason, no one moved an inch; either they were too afraid to move, or they didn't see it as a threat. The bubble suddenly fades, becoming almost completely transparent. As if popped by an unseen needle, the bubble bursts, purple energy exploding outward. Naturally, one would expect that anyone and anything near it would be sent flying away, or at the very least, moved. However, the energy had no force to it, somehow. Their bodies absorbed the energy completely, leaving them with a strange feeling in their bodies. Everyone checked themselves for any sign of abnormality before looking at each other.

"What just happened?" Arad asks.

"I have no idea." Hayate responds.

"Everyone okay?" Kaname turns to the group.

"Guys?" Makina says, her voice soft.

"Something feels...different." Mirage says, her voice equally soft.

"Yeah, it...I can't explain it." Reina winces.

Everyone turns to the pilot and singers, their reactions equivalent to each other. Makina no longer had cuts and bruises littering her body, and as she gingerly undid her bandages, everyone's jaw dropped at the fact that there was no wound at all anymore. Mirage, seeing as how Makina was affected, sat down to undo her bandages, only to see that the supposed knife wound she had received no longer existed. Reina stood up, something she normally wouldn't have been able to do.

"What the-" Chuck breathes.

"How did that happen?" Reina's eyes widen.

"I think, if I'm understanding this correctly, that our injuries are healed, somehow." Mirage says as she inspects the rest of her body.

"I think she's right. I don't feel any pain from my body, not right now, anyway." Makina says as she stretches.

"My leg feels fine now. In fact, it feels like I haven't been running at all." Reina adds as she slowly walks around.

"My head doesn't hurt anymore." Freyja adds.

"Wait, Captain," Hayate asks, "how does your chest feel?"

Arad pats his own chest, feeling for any signs of pain. "I certainly don't feel any pain."

"Hold on a minute," Kaname says, "if our injuries were healed, then doesn't that mean that his would be too?" She looks toward the spot where the mercenary leader was lying motionless. He still wasn't moving, either because he had fallen unconscious, or he didn't want to move while he was the center of attention.

"If he's been healed, then doesn't that mean he can come back to hurt us again?" Hayate asks, his eyes narrowing at the mercenary leader.

"Don't worry about him. He won't be coming back to haunt us." Mikumo says, drawing everyone's attention.

"Mikumo-san?!" Freyja yelps before running over to hug the violet haired singer.

"Mikumo!"

"Kumo-Kumo!" The singer duo grapple Mikumo, causing her to almost lose her balance. She falls backward onto a warm, solid surface behind her. She turns around and smiles at her guardian.

"It seems they're quite happy to see you." Shiro's voice is completely neutral, but there was a small smile on his face as he steadies her.

"What happened to you two?" Arad asks.

Mikumo and Shiro look at each other.

"I think I will let Mikumo divulge those events at her own discretion." Shiro says to both the group and Mikumo.

"Things happened." Mikumo emotionlessly says.

"Was that purple energy wave you?" Freyja asks.

"I think it's pretty obvious who it was." Mirage says.

"Then how about how you did it?" Makina adds.

"Or why you were in that bubble for so long?" Reina adds.

"At least tell us what you were doing inside that bubble." Freyja adds.

"Were you inside your mind?" Makina asks.

"How did you change your clothes?"

Mikumo sputters as she tries to keep up with the flood of questions. "I, uh...Wait what?"

She looks down to see that indeed, her clothes had changed. Instead of her exercise clothes, she was wearing the same pristine white strapless dress as when she and Shiro were in her mind. She was also wearing low white heels, and she noticed that she didn't have her signature bun.

Shiro gently squeezes her shoulder and she looks up at him. "Mikumo has had to deal with some rather strange circumstances, so she can't fully answer most of those questions, but we were presumably inside of her mind for the time we were unconscious."

The singers give him a strange look as they disengage from Mikumo.

"Oh, you were inside of Kumo-Kumo's mind?" Makina asks, an eyebrow raised.

"What were you guys doing inside of Mikumo's mind?" Reina asks, her expression similar to Makina's.

"What's Mikumo-san's mind like?" Freyja asks, her eyes wide."

Shiro exhales softly. "I find it a bit difficult to explain what transpired inside of Mikumo's mind, but at the very least, Mikumo's mind seemed pretty empty."

Everyone stares at Shiro, then Mikumo, who didn't seem fazed by this.

"Shiro, that's not very nice." Reina scolds.

"You shouldn't say things like that to a lady, Shiro." Makina adds.

"Umm, Shiro-san?" Freyja asks.

Shiro looks at her. "Yes, Freyja?"

"You DO know what it means to say someone's mind is empty, right?"

"Is there another meaning that I am not aware of?"

"Yes, there is." Kaname softly says as she smirks at him.

"He isn't really wrong, though." Mikumo states.

Everyone looks at her with mixed expressions of humor and surprise.

"What? It was basically like floating in space. There really wasn't much there." Mikumo states.

Everyone looks at her.

"So, you admit that your head is empty?" Kaname asks, her eyebrows raised.

"Why would I lie to you?" Mikumo responds, obviously not getting it.

Kaname looks at the rest of the singers as they nod to her. "Well, Mikumo, when someone says that their head is empty, it generally means that they're unintelligent or foolish. That, or they're incredibly forgetful, having no thoughts. That's why they're called empty-headed."

Mikumo's face remains neutral for a second before it clicks in her head. Her eyes widen as she turns to Shiro, who also had seemed to realize what he'd said.

"I did not realize that had other meanings," Shiro explains, "I meant that the space within Mikumo's mind is physically empty, not that Mikumo was unintelligent or foolish. She is somewhat impulsive, as you all probably know, but I do not find much fault in that."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Mikumo asks, her face flat.

"It was not originally intended to." Shiro responds, his tone completely neutral.

They stare at each other for a minute before Mikumo realizes that he was still holding her.

Mikumo blushes visibly as she stutters. "I-I'm fine now, Shiro. You don't need to support me anymore..."

Shiro's eyes widen briefly before he releases her and clears his throat. "Ehm, yes, apologies."

The singers laugh to themselves over Mikumo's behavior while the pilots give Shiro questioning looks that made him inwardly uncomfortable. They remained like that for a minute or so before a voice rings in the pilots' ears.

"Delta Platoon, your fighters have arrived. Delta Five, your fighter is the Kairos. I don't know how you got an escort, but whoever it is did a good job of keeping them off of your fighters." The green-haired bridge girl's voice alerts them as the sound of engines approaching makes them all turn toward the sound.

They see their respective Valkyries appear over the tree line as a Siegfried zooms past all of them. Shiro's gaze snaps toward the Siegfried before he turns to the group.

"This is Delta One. Thanks Elysion."

Kaname smiles. "Thanks, Messer-kun."

The Siegfried switches to Battroid mode and salutes quickly before switching back to Fighter mode and blasting back toward the battle in the sky.

"Is there something I missed?" Mikumo stares at Kaname."

"It would appear so." Shiro says as he looks at the Kairos designated for him. "That Siegfried is the same as the one I encountered recently tonight."

"That's Messer; apparently he's back from the dead." Hayate says as he approaches his Siegfried.

"Or maybe he never died." Kaname's face grows serious. "We have a job to do. Let's get to it."

"What are our orders?" Mirage asks as she stretches her now healed leg.

"We're going to take Walkure back to the Elysion, or whatever remains of it. From what I understand, the bridge is still operational, and so is some of our communications. Walkure, you guys should get ready to perform a tactical concert, get our guys 'motivated.' Anyone think they need to take a breather or sit this one out?" Arad says as he looks at the group.

Kaname looks to Makina. "How do you feel, Makina?"

Makina smiles as she stretches. "I feel like causing a few nosebleeds."

Hayate turns to Mirage. "You good, Mirage?"

Mirage smiles at her former pupil. "I wouldn't want to miss this."

Hayate grins as he turns to Freyja. "Are you up for this, Freyja?"

Freyja smiles as she points to Hayate and Mirage. "You both better be ready!"

Makina looks at Reina who smiles. "Don't even ask."

"Chuck?" Arad looks at the Ragnan pilot.

Chuck puts a fist in his hand. "Aye, Sir!"

Kaname looks at Mikumo. "Think you're well enough to sing?"

Mikumo puts a hand on her hip as she smiles. She makes the W with her fingers. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

Arad looks at Shiro. "Look, Shiro, I know you probably didn't sign up for this, but-"

"Captain." Shiro smiles lightly. "You need not try to convince me. I will honor our agreement."

The senior pilot smiles back at Shiro before turning to the group. "Alright then. Everyone know who they're pairing up with. We'll probably have to fight our way to the Elysion, but it's like they say: 'The only easy day, was yesterday.'"

Everyone nods as they split up and go to their respective Siegfrieds with the like pilots. As Arad helps Kaname into his Siegfried, he calls out to Shiro. "Oh yeah, Shiro. This is your first time flying a Kairos, but it's pretty much the same as flying a Nightmare. We also gave you a couple extra rail gun pods and a couple boosters. Try not to make Mikumo sick before we get to the Elysion. You think you got it?"

Shiro turns around as he and Mikumo jump into the Kairos' hand. "I don't think I can afford not to, sir."

Arad chuckles. "Don't 'sir' me, Shiro. Remember, we're the same rank!"

Shiro smiles lightly. "Understood."

With that being said, the respective pairs took off. Naturally, Shiro had Mikumo, Hayate had Freyja, and Arad had Kaname. Mirage had Makina and Chuck had Reina. Arad took point with Mirage and Shiro on his left and right, respectively. Hayate and Chuck followed the other two respectively. As they gained altitude, they were greeted by a barrage of orange bullets from the Nightmares the were attacking. As it turned out, there were a variety of Nightmares attacking, as there were a considerable amount of Super Nightmares, many more were just regular Nightmares. It was fairly easy to tell who the leaders among the attacking force were, as the Super Nightmares were much more aggressive and took Chaos' forces much longer to take down than the regular Nightmares. Once Delta Platoon showed up, however, the regular Nightmares started to swarm Delta Platoon, with more descending into the atmosphere from space. It seemed that they were aware their plan to capture Mikumo and Walkure had failed, so now they were trying to destroy any trace of them.

"I don't think they're going to go easy on us, Captain!" Chuck yells as they all split up to avoid enough bullets to make them disintegrate.

"They're not! Delta Platoon, shoot to kill! That's an order!" Arad yells as he dives through the first group of attacking Nightmares and shreds half of them.

"Roger!" Mirage raises her voice as she swoops under a Nightmare and slices it in half with her beam cannon.

"Mirage, bank left!" Hayate yells as he blasts a Nightmare gunning for Mirage.

Arad rolls to dodge a Nightmare charging him head-on before switching to Gerwalk mode and shooting it out of the sky. As he switches back to fighter mode, three Nightmares chase him from behind, two of them Super Nightmares. He aims the beam cannon behind him and takes out one of them as the other two launch a flurry of missiles at him. Hayate and Mirage pull back behind him to dodge the streams of bullets from various Nightmares. They blast the missiles out of the sky before splitting up, both of them having two Nightmares on their tails each. A Nightmare appears in front of them both, ready to take them down. Hayate and Mirage quickly dispatch their Nightmares with a beam cannon and a quick burst of bullets, respectively. Shiro flips backwards over the two, switching to Gerwalk mode and blasting the four Nightmares out of the sky in rapid succession with the dual rail gun pods on each arm.

"Thanks, Shiro!" Hayate and Mirage chirp through the comm.

"It looks like Shiro's really getting the hang of piloting, eh?" Makina remarks in Mirage's backseat.

"We can't afford to let our guards down. I can't track all of the Nightmares in the airspace, but I count at least sixty, not including the third party's Valkyries." Shiro notes as he backs around a trio of Nightmares. He shreds the first one before chasing another one and ending it the same way as the first one. He looks behind him to check on Mikumo. "How are you holding up, Mikumo?"

Mikumo seemed somewhat nervous. "I'm fine, but I'm worried about us getting back to the Aether in one piece. Not just me, but everyone else."

Shiro frowned as he switched to Gerwalk mode and annihilated a Super Nightmare that launched its missiles at him. "I'll get you back in one piece, Mikumo. As for the others, I'll help them as much as possible, but you know your safety comes first."

"I know, I know. It's just-" Mikumo sighed softly as she leaned back in her seat.

"Mikumo." Shiro's voice was firm yet gentle. "Trust me."

Mikumo looks through the canopy, viewing the intense dogfights with dogfights in it. "I'm not really used to trusting other people like this. I just...don't want to hurt others the in a way only I'm capable of."

Shiro accelerates to avoid a burst of laser beams from four different Super Nightmares. He rolls off to the side, all four Super Nightmares chasing him. "It's okay, Mikumo. I'm the same way."

Hayate and Mirage come up behind him, both of them shooting down a Super Nightmare before being forced to bank off as more Nightmares descend upon them.

"Hayate! Three behind you, coming in fast!" Mirage yells to him.

Hayate chuckles softly as they gain on him. Mirage briefly thought they were going to get him until she realized they were directly behind him. She smirks as she recognizes what Hayate was planning. As if on cue, Hayate executes a half-Cobra maneuver before gaining significant altitude. The Nightmares didn't even have time to react as Hayate came back down at breakneck speeds and switched to Gerwalk mode, annihilating all three Nightmares in a matter of seconds.

"You're such a show off, Hayate." Freyja laughs as Hayate flips over to Mirage and shoots down another two Nightmares that were on her tail.

"Are you trying to show off to Messer, Haya-Haya?" Makina giggles to Hayate.

"This isn't the time to be showboating, Hayate." Mirage can't resist a grin as she shoots down a Nightmare diving towards Hayate.

Arad barrel rolls as bullets and laser beams narrowly miss him. "This isn't getting us anywhere! Chuck, can you see if we can get any assistance?!"

Chuck barely dodges the hailstorm of bullets from a couple of Nightmares that try to pincer him. "Aye Sir!" He switches comm channels. "Delta Platoon to any available platoons, come in! We need back up!"

The comm channel was a mixture of different voice yelling at each other, telling the other to dodge, the location of any leader Nightmares, etc. A voice comes on the channel. "Delta Platoon, this is Alpha Leader! We can't really spare anyone right now! There are enough Nightmares for everyone to have a platoon of their own! What are you doing?!"

"We need to drop Walkure at the Aether, but we're getting swarmed!"

"We're occupied right now! If we take our attention of these guys, we're gonna get sandwiched!"

"This is Beta Leader! We're in the same boat as Alpha! Gamma's already taken casualties! Gamma 2 and 3 are down!"

"Where the hell are our reinforcements?!" One of the squad members yell through the comms.

"The Elysion said they'd be here in five minutes!"

"Bullshit! It's been twenty minutes!"

"If it wasn't for these unknowns, we'd be long dead!"

"They're getting squeezed tight too! We can't hold out much longer!"

"Can it! We've got more hostile Nightmares incoming! I-Hold on, we got friendlies incoming! Watch your fire, friendlies are khaki tan! Repeat, do NOT fire on khaki tan Nightmares!"

Chuck takes a small breath of relief at the mentioning of more friendly reinforcements. "Captain, we've got friendlies from the local airbase!"

Arad had already noticed, as the four Nightmares chasing him suddenly exploded. It wasn't from the friendly Nightmares, though. He manages to glance at a Siegfried with a winged skull emblem just before it zooms past him and blasts another Nightmare out of the sky. At first glance, it looked like Messer was just flying around and blasting any nearby Nightmares out of the sky, but as Kaname noticed, he always found a way to loop back around to Arad, or more specifically, Kaname. "That's a relief. We still can't let our guards down, though. Once the local reinforcements engage, have Alpha Platoon and Beta Platoon cover our backs, Delta Three!"

Chuck grins as three squadrons of khaki tan Nightmares, one of which a full squadron of Super Nightmares, throttle past him and annihilate five navy blue Nightmares. Five more squadrons fly past him and spread out, the resulting dogfight exponentially more intense than the previous ones. Nightmares of two different colors swirled around each other, exchanging gunfire and missiles. There were some Kairos' and Chronos' mixed in, and most notably, five Siegfrieds.

Arad grins as the friendly Nightmares zoom past him, forcing the navy blue Nightmares to focus on the khaki tan ones. "Delta Platoon, now's our chance! Form up on me ASAP! Forget landing on the Aether, head straight for the bridge! We'll drop Walkure through the breach in the bridge's canopy!"

Hayate grins. "About time. I've been waiting to hear Freyja sing."

Makina and Reina ring through the comm.

"What, you didn't want to hear me sing, Haya-Haya?"

"I see Hayate's playing favorites."

Hayate chuckles as he throttles to Arad. "I'm still gonna protect you guys, but for singing, your goddamn right I'm playing favorites."

Mirage laughs softly. "Don't act like you had a chance competing with Freyja for Hayate."

Freyja smiles as her rune twinkles. "Hayate, be nice. It's not like they have amazing boyfriends to praise them."

Arad chuckles. "You kids play nice now."

"Kumo-Kumo's the child here!" Makina pouts.

Mikumo, who had been silent this time, frowned. "I'll remember that when we have practice after this."

Kaname laughed softly. "You really want to have practice after all _this_?"

Mikumo gives a sadistic looking smile, something that both shocked the singers and terrified them. "You bet I do. I dare one of you to skip out on me."

Makina and Reina both gulp nervously while Freyja and Kaname shiver.

"I see the other side of her is coming out now." Makina chuckles nervously.

"I think it's the side we don't really get to see." Reina adds just as nervously.

"I hope everyone else is in for a rough time." Kaname adds.

"At least she'll work us somewhat fairly, right Mikumo-san?" Freyja can't help but squirm slightly.

"About that, I expect great things from you, _Freyja._ " Mikumo emphasizes the last word audibly, making the Windermerean singer shiver with fear.

"Oi, Mikumo. Don't traumatize them now, they need to be in good enough condition to sing." Hayate scolds as he and Mirage fly together in close proximity.

Mikumo smirks. "Don't worry, I'll make sure they'll be perfectly fit to sing."

A soft sound makes everyone stop for a second. It sounded like a laugh, but because of who it was coming from, no one could believe it, least of all Mikumo. Shiro was laughing. Almost inaudibly, but just enough for everyone to hear. He was almost laughing to himself, as it was fairly soft. Walkure and Delta Platoon alike gaped at the expression of apparent amusement from the otherwise stoic bodyguard. After a few seconds he stopped laughing, he realized that everyone else had stopped talking. He pulled up the holo screens to see if everyone was okay only to realize everyone was staring at him with expressions of utter surprise. He turns his head to look at Mikumo who also was gaping widely at him.

Shiro looked at Mikumo. "Is there something I need to be made aware of?"

Mikumo closed her mouth, her expression unreadable. "Did you just...laugh?"

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Is that unusual?"

"From you, it is." Makina says.

"That's the first time I've ever heard you laugh." Freyja adds.

"I didn't think it was possible." Reina softly remarks.

"You're not alone on that one." Chuck adds.

"Give him a break, guys," Kaname says, "it's not like he's had any reason to laugh recently, especially given the fact that he's had to rescue us a second time now."

"He's only had to save us once." Arad interjects.

"Twice, if you include that time on the bridge." Mikumo mentions. "And don't forget that time when I was tied to a table."

"It's his job." Mirage argues.

"You know, he's only been with us for about a month or so now. He could've left after the first attack, yet he's still with us now. That's more than you can say for most other people." Hayate notes.

"Shiro's not most other people." Reina says.

"Isn't that why you hired him?" Mikumo points out.

No one could argue with Mikumo's and Hayate's logic, although they were still completely taken aback by the fact that Shiro actually laughed. They all took deep breaths, partially relieving their stresses.

"We're coming up on the Elysion now." Arad's voice sounds through the comms.

Everyone except Shiro felt their hearts drop at the sight of the crippled Elysion. Most of the large beam turrets were gone or destroyed, pieces of them scattering in the water. There were large burn marks, bullet holes, and small fires burning all over the Elysion. The bridge itself had a visible hole in its left side, which wasn't filled by the foam that normally patched it up when there was a breach. The legs weren't even visible; the only hint that there were even leg units was the dark shadow just below the water, bits of metal sticking out occasionally. The Aether and the Hemera were intact, for the most part. The Hermera was already detached, but the Aether was floating on its own next to its sister carrier. Everyone realized what was going to happen with the Elysion, now that repairs were basically impossible. They flew straight to the bridge, Arad dropping Kaname off first. Hayate went next, followed by Mirage, then Chuck, and finally, Shiro. As they took off, Mirage turned to look at the Elysion.

"I know we're supposed to stay optimistic, but I can't keep a positive outlook on this."

"I can't either, but we can't stay down. We have to come back from this, somehow." Arad says with a sad smile.

"On the bright side, we survived, Walkure survived, and the Aether and Hemera survived." Shiro says.

"So did Walkure's sound system." Hayate jests lightly. "And, because we survived, we can still fly."

"Well, we have our chance to get a little payback, and I know I'm itching for a Ragnan return." Chuck grins.

Everyone smiles.

"Delta Platoon, your orders are to drive the intruders away from Ragna's blue skies!"

"Yeah!"

"Roger!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Understood."

As they flew towards the battle, Walkure was readying themselves. Luckily for them, their stage materials, clothing, etc, was already waiting for them, courtesy of the Elysion's crew. They smiled warmly at the safe return of their goddesses, which Walkure returned in kind. As they were preparing to switch out their clothes, Mikumo snapped her fingers to get Walkure's attention.

Mikumo put a hand on her hips as she spoke. "Girls, do you mind if I solo this first one?"

Kaname looks at her, a slightly questioning look on her face. "What's the occasion?"

Mikumo pauses for a moment before responding. "Well, this is the first time we're singing with Shiro present. I'd like to know how Shiro responds to my singing, what with him being new and all."

Makina crosses her arms, a suggestive smile on her face. "Oh, and what made you think that, Kumo-Kumo?"

Mikumo tilted her head up as she collected her thoughts. "I was thinking about how Freyja is capable of resonating with Hayate; I want to know if I'm capable of resonating with Shiro. He spends a lot of time around me, so it seems natural that he and I are capable of resonating with each other. He might just become even more powerful than before if that's the case."

On paper, it was good enough to divert their attention from the more suggestive aspects of her question; Freyja, however, could tell there was something else to Mikumo's question. Feigning innocence, she decided to go along with it, but she made a note to ask Mikumo about it when everything was said and done.

The rest of Walkure look among themselves before turning to Mikumo.

Kaname is the first to speak. "Alright, Mikumo, but we're going to let everyone else know, just so that they know we're okay."

Mikumo nods. "Fair enough. You'll all join me when I signal, okay?"

The other girls nod, smiles on their faces.

Kaname taps the earpiece she still had on her. "Hey guys."

Arad responds. "What's going on, Kaname?"

"You don't need to worry about this, but Mikumo asked to solo the first song or so. We'll join her when she gives us her signal."

Hayate groans. "Man, I was really looking forward to dancing to Freyja's song."

Mirage snorts. "You still want to dance even with this going on?"

Hayate makes a hmph sound. "Name one time I wouldn't want to."

Mirage sighs. "I definitely can't answer that; I just can't keep up with you."

"Don't worry, Mirage. I can keep pace for you." Hayate smirks.

While they were talking, Mikumo had stepped toward the center of the stage. Her body glows purple before fading to reveal the black and red variant of her blue outfit. She looked through the orange cracked glass of the bridge, searching for Shiro's Kairos. Given that it was basically identical to every other Kairos in the sky, she couldn't tell it apart. She took in a deep breath before beginning her song. The sound of a violin draws Shiro's attention.

 _Tatoeba togireta sora ga mieta nara_

All of Chaos' deployed platoons, Delta included, felt their exhaustion vanish as Mikumo began her song.

 _Furueru boku no koe ga kikoeru no nara_

As her song began to ring out across the skies, Shiro felt himself tense up as his vision blurred briefly back and forth. Everyone in Delta Platoon, except Shiro, began to notice the increase in power coming from Mikumo's song. Shiro struggled to maintain his focus as Mikumo continued singing.

 _Barabara ni kudakeru hodo maiagare_

 _Hikisakareta kioku no hate naki tsubasa_

 _Ano hi katariatta koto_

Hayate rolled to dodge a barrage of bullets from a Nightmare, taking it out with his beam cannon when he saw Shiro's Kairos fly differently. Instead of being completely steady, it was rocking back and forth visibly. There was no reaction from Shiro as the Nightmares moved to attack him.

"Delta Five, Delta Five!" Hayate calls out to Shiro, who didn't realize he had spaced out. Time slowed down as four Nightmares from different angles fired down simultaneously at Shiro.

 _Itsumo waraiaeta koto_

 _Yomigaeru hi made tachiagaru dake_

 _Kowashite motto motto boku o kanjite_

Shiro's next move shocked everyone, most of all his attackers. He switched into Battroid mode, the orange tracers from the Nightmares barely grazing every inch of his Kairos in every way possible. Before any of them can react, Shiro flips over and upside down as he switches to Gerwalk mode and takes out three of them with his arm-mounted railguns and the beam gun on his dorsal side. As the fourth Nightmare tries to peel off, Shiro shreds it with all four railgun pods in an instant.

 _Soko ni soko ni imasu ka_

 _Senjou ni saku inochi yo moero moero_

 _Koroshite isso isso kuchihateru nara_

Two squadrons of Nightmares descend upon Delta Platoon simultaneously, but before anyone can re-position themselves, Shiro pulls back sharply, diving into the midst of both squadrons. Half a second later, he unleashes all of the missiles in the extra packs mounted. Only one Nightmare managed to avoid getting blown to bits instantaneously, but their escape was short lived; Shiro annihilated the pilot of the remaining Nightmare by completely dissolving the nose area with all four railguns.

 _Tagire tagire hametsu no hate ni_

 _Kiseki o yobisamase tozasareta sora e_

All Chaos Platoons assumed a formation as the Nightmares' numbers began to dwindle. Shiro was slowly gaining on them, his speed a fraction of what it was a minute ago. Meanwhile, the two Chronos' and Siegfried were flying a distance away, observing the Kairos carefully.

"Hey, Delta Five. Are you okay?" Hayate asked as Shiro's Kairos was still wobbling visibly.

"Delta Five! Come in, Delta Five! Cpt. Okumura!" Arad tried to get Shiro to respond.

 _Tobiaku musuu no kankaku no naka de_

 _Hontou no jibun saemo nakushiteshimau_

 _Mienai fuan no shuuchuu houka ni_

"Sorry, Arad. I just need a minute." When Shiro finally responded, everyone could tell something was off. His voice was quiet, and sounded strained.

"What's wrong, Shiro?" Chuck asks.

"It's nothing." Shiro says as he aligns himself within their formation. His Kairos had stopped shaking, but he didn't sound any better.

 _Kachinokoru nowa yowasa mitomeru tsuyosa_

 _Moshimo boku janakattara_

 _Moshimo kimi janakattara_

 _Konna kimochi sae shirazu ni ita ne_

There was no time to rest however, as more Nightmares, mainly Super Nightmares, descended from space. They launched an unreal amount of missiles in close proximity to the heated dogfight, blanketing the sky with explosions. There were multiple screams on the open channel as friendly Nightmares and Kairos were decimated by the explosions. It was also evident that the Chronos also took casualties, as at least five of them were shredded by the shrapnel, their air-frames falling apart midair.

A unrecognizable female voice sounds through the comm. "They're making a final push right now. If we beat back this squadron, all they'll have left is their battleships and carriers." Her voice could have been related to Kaname's, as both sounded mature yet young.

 _Kirisake motto motto seigi no yami e_

Deciding to delay their questions for a time when they weren't in danger of being blown to bits, Arad responded for Delta Platoon and Chaos' forces.

"All other questions aside, I'd like to know if we can really trust you." Arad calmly says.

 _Hashire hashire hai ni naru made_

The next voice was familiar enough for him. "Captain, you can trust them. You have my word."

"Messer, you have a lot of explaining to do when we get back." Arad smiles gently. "You also didn't get to go on a little date with Kaname."

 _Rikutsu o sutete kokoro de hoero hoero_

The sound of a throat being cleared makes him chuckle.

"If there's anything else, please wait until after we deal with the incoming hostiles." The same female pilot says.

"We'll take the lead, please have two of your best squadrons follow us. Leave the rest to defend the Elysion and the nearby civilians." Another female voice sounds through the comm.

"Everyone got that?" Arad asks through the comm. After hearing everyone's confirmation, he pulled up the list of intact Kairos from each respective platoon.

 _Tachikare yagate yagate umareru hoshi ni_

"Alright, Alpha Platoon, Delta Platoon, follow their lead. All other forces remain near the Elysion in case some break through."

 _Kimi ga kimi ga ikekureru nara_

"Heads up, Captain! Hostiles incoming! They number at least fifty!" Chuck yells through the comm for everyone to hear.

 _Bokura no kagayaki wa muteki nimo nareru_

Everyone paled at the sight of a cloud of Valkyries accelerating head-on towards them. What was offsetting was not the sheer amount of Super Nightmares, but the Valkyries behind them. There were ten VF-29s, all equipped with super packs. They were colored navy blue, with silver stripes along the wings. They also gave off a different kind of presence than the Super Nightmares they were the Super Nightmares dived towards the Elysion, the Durandals all split up, each gunning for a member of Delta Platoon, Messer, and his two superiors. The remaining two Durandals split up, one going for Hayate, the other for Shiro. At first, it seemed that the newest cluster of Valkyries would break through the remainder of Chaos' squadrons, but it soon became obvious that the Super Nightmare pilots were either inexperienced or exhausted, as they were actually easier to take down than the previous Super Nightmares. As for the apparent aces among both sides, they were engaged in a furious dogfight that soon devolved into an endless stalemate. Shiro found himself being pressed incredibly tightly, as every moment he had was spent dodging or firing back at a Durandal trying to annihilate him.

 _Migi ni narae to daremo ga kyou o ikteru_

It seemed their plan had completely failed, as despite the advantage in numbers they initially had, the Super Nightmares' pilots were no match for the battle hardened skills of Chaos' forces, combined with the assistance of the third party. The space in the sky where the aces of each respective faction were dueling was lit up by bursts of blue and orange tracers, along with laser beams and the occasional flurry and destruction of missiles. Meanwhile, the rest of Walkure had joined Mikumo, as she had given the signal when the last wave of hostiles had showed up. Their song echoed even more prominently the moment the other four singers joined in, as Delta Platoon and to an extent, Messer, began to fly differently in the sense that they reacted and flew faster. Shiro coughed painfully as he nearly blacked out; his Kairos' nose dipped sharply.

 _Modokashisa ni riyuu mo nai mama_

"Shiro, are you okay?!" Hayate yelled as he blew off a wing mounted engine off of the Durandal chasing him. It switched to Gerwalk mode to stabilize itself, and Mirage made a fly by, blowing off one of it's legs. As Mirage flew by, the Durandal chasing him was hit by a beam blast from Hayate. As it began to lose altitude, it fired off all of its missiles, forcing the two to back off and destroy all of the missiles.

The three Durandals seemed to have sensed Shiro's vulnerability, as all three fire a salvo of missiles at him. Shiro didn't react as the missiles neared him, to the dismay of the other pilots. Right as they were about to make impact, Shiro purged all of the extra equipment on his Kairos, save for the extra boosters, which still had enough fuel to last him an extra few minutes. The resulting explosion made it so that no one could tell where Shiro had went, or if he had even survived. The three Durandals split up and maneuvered around the dust cloud in Gerwalk mode to see where Shiro had went. When the dust settled, there wasn't a trace of Shiro, and as the three turned around, none of them bothered to look down.

 _Shinda mitai ni iketeyuku nai mama_

One Durandal was hit directly by a beam and promptly exploded. Another barely managed to avoid getting shredded, while the third had its wing clipped off by the barrage from Shiro's dual railguns. As it listed sideways, Shiro hammered it with all four railguns until it essentially disintegrated. The remaining Durandal launched the remainder of its missiles at Shiro while simultaneously firing its twin beam cannons.

 _Akai chi o nagashi kiba o muke_

Both beams landed on the extra boosters as Shiro had switched to Gerwalk mode to avoid and destroy the missiles launched at him. He barely had time to purge them before they exploded, knocking his Kairos off balance. The Durandal charged at him head on in Fighter mode before switching to Battroid mode. It fired both of its beam cannons, which Shiro barely managed to dodge/block. The Durandal then pulled out its knife, the blade glowing green. Shiro switched to Battroid mode right as the Durandal neared him with its knife arm extended. Unknown to the pilots, Walkure, or more specifically, Mikumo was watching Shiro's intense engagement.

 _Sore ga boku ga kimi ga ikiteru shoumei akashi_

Time either flashed by or slowed to a crawl for the pilots that were watching Shiro fight. For Chuck and Mirage, who had their backs turned, they didn't see the how, they only saw the result. For Arad, Hayate, and Messer, they watched the entire scene unfold in a mix of shock and awe. Right as the knife was about to plunge towards the center of Shiro's Kairos, the bodyguard moved his left arm, deflecting the knife and slicing the extra railgun partially. Shiro then fired the remaining functional railgun at the Durandal's arm, blowing it off. Shiro, by then, had already deployed his beam cannon in its turret mode, and fired directly at the Durandal, just below its head. The good news was that Shiro had effectively won his lopsided fight; the bad news was the resulting explosion damaged his Kairos considerably, as the head unit was damaged beyond use.

 _Kowashite motto motto boku o kanjite_

As if to add insult to injury, the remaining Durandals turned their attention to Shiro, firing whatever they had left at him. Most of them missed their beam shots, and their missiles were quickly shot down by the other pilots flying nearby.

 _Soko ni soko ni kimi wa imasu ka_

Unfortunately, one of the last beam shots fired hit the Kairos on the left shoulder, blowing off the arm and sending the fighter careening. Shiro switched to Fighter mode as another struck his wing, blowing a chunk of it off.

 _Senjou ni saku inochi yo moero moero_

The pilots took advantage of the enemy's distraction with Shiro and promptly began to finish them off.

 _Koroshite isso isso kuchihateru nara_

Arad sliced both wings off of a Durandal as its back was turned to him and fired directly at its center with his beam cannon.

 _Tagire tagire hametsu no hate ni_

Messer destroyed his and Chuck's Durandal by firing missiles at the two Valkyries, blowing both of them to bits instantly. The two Chronos double teamed one Durandal before unleashing their missiles at the last. It desperately tried to escape, but the sheer number of missiles ensured it met a similar fate to its companions.

 _Kiseki o yobisamase tozasareta sora e_

Shiro's Kairos was now in a sharp nosedive by the time Delta Platoon and Chronos finished knocking out their respective Durandals. Hayate and the two Chronos began to throttle downwards, towards Shiro. They grit their teeth as they realize they weren't likely to reach Shiro in time before he crashed. The sound of a cry rings through the comm as the Kairos hits the water at terminal velocity.

"SHIRO!"

* * *

Hey guys, sorry about the slow posting, I've just been busy and I also have been proofing my chapters and what not for more errors. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter, and please let me know your thoughts.


	15. Chapter 15

_Five minutes ago, while Mikumo was singing_

 _Kiseki o yobisamase tozasareta sora e_

Mikumo felt a strange reaction from someone as she sang. She kept on singing, but it only intensified as she continued on.

 _Tobiaku musuu no kankaku no naka de_

 _Hontou no jibun saemo nakushiteshimau_

The rest of Walkure must've noticed something was off, because out of the corner of her eye, Mikumo noticed the slight change in their expressions as they looked at her and the raging aerial fight outside.

 _Mienai fuan no shuuchuu houka ni_

 _Kachinokoru nowa yowasa mitomeru tsuyosa_

It was both unfamiliar yet nostalgic, and as she sang, Mikumo tried to pinpoint the source of the reaction.

 _Moshimo boku janakattara_

 _Moshimo kimi janakattara_

For a minute or so the sensation faded, and right as Mikumo thought that was the last of it, it returned full circle.

 _Konna kimochi sae shirazu ni ita ne_

Mikumo shuddered as she saw a massive flurry of explosions light up the sky, and she felt a reverberation from what she assumed was the deaths of multiple pilots.

 _Kirisake motto motto seigi no yami e_

 _Hashire hashire hai ni naru made_

Mikumo ignored the chatter flooding through the comm, although she made note of the other two voices that she didn't recognize.

 _Rikutsu o sutete kokoro de hoero hoero_

 _Tachikare yagate yagate umareru hoshi ni_

The amount of power stemming from her song was steadily increasing, according to the near inaudible back chatter from Kaname and Reina. Mikumo subconsciously retained that information as she continued to sing.

 _Kimi ga kimi ga ikekureru nara_

 _Bokura no kagayaki wa muteki nimo nareru_

It was also at this point that she turned to the rest of Walkure, her unsaid message clear enough to them.

 _Migi ni narae to daremo ga kyou o_ _ikiteru_

Mikumo was not expecting the backlash that came from one of the pilot's reactions. She tried focus in on where she thought the reaction was coming from.

 _Modokashisa ni riyuu mo nai mama_

 _Shinda mitai ni iketeyuku nai mama_

Somehow, amidst all of the chaos in the sky, Mikumo managed to focus in on a Kairos, high in the sky, that looked slightly different, and was being shot at by a Valkyrie she didn't recognize.

 _Akai chi o nagashi kiba o muke_

As the Valkyrie fired away at Shiro's Kairos, she felt her heartbeat increase to the point she thought it would burst from her chest. As she saw parts detach and explode from Shiro's Kairos, she felt her heart stop for a moment as she saw the Valkyrie lunge at Shiro with its knife drawn.

 _Sore ga boku ga kimi ga ikiteru shoumei akashi_

Mikumo's perception of time at this point was, at the very least, an enigma. She didn't know how much time had passed as she watched Shiro completely turn the tables on his attacker. She couldn't tell how close Shiro was to being taken out by his assailant, but she felt a feeling of relief wash over her. Unfortunately, that feeling dissipated as quickly as it came.

 _Kowashite motto motto boku o kanjite_

 _Soko ni soko ni kimi wa imasu ka_

Mikumo felt her blood run cold as she took in the sight of Shiro being relentlessly hammered by similar Valkyries. As a few of them managed to land a hit on Shiro's Kairos, knocking it off balance, she couldn't help but wonder what the other pilots close to Shiro were doing.

 _Senjou ni saku inochi yo moero moero_

As if on cue, Arad, Messer and the other two pilots begin to take down a Valkyrie in quick succession.

 _Koroshite isso isso kuchihateru nara_

 _Tagire tagire hametsu no hate ni_

Mikumo, at this point, was effectively focused on two things: finishing her song, and watching Shiro's Kairos plummet towards the ocean.

 _Kiseki o yobisamase tozasareta sora e_

She didn't realize that she had put more power into her words as she watched Shiro fall; she vaguely noticed the other two Chronos follow Hayate as he tried to reach Shiro before he hit the ocean. She didn't even realize she had yelled his name as the massive explosion of water appeared on a screen displayed on the orange canopy of the bridge. As she looked through the glass, she realized that Shiro had crashed much closer to the Elysion than she realized. He was still a bit ways off from it, but the impact zone was less than 15 meters from the edge of the Aether. As she watched Hayate and the other two Chronos' hover around the white washed ripples, she quickly analyzed the situation. Saying nothing, Mikumo switched to her chaos outfit before running out of the bridge, her destination unknown to all but herself.

"Mikumo?!" Kaname says, surprised by the violet-haired singer.

"Mikumo-san?! Where are you going?!" Freyja calls after Mikumo.

Mikumo ran faster than she thought she was capable of, because she made it to the Aether in less than five minutes. She quickly searched the equipment room before finding the suits they use for underwater operations. Mikumo mentally noted that although they rarely used them, she was definitely grateful that they had them. It only takes her a couple minutes to throw off her blouse and skirt, revealing her biker shorts underneath. She slips the suit on before grabbing her helmet and shoving it on. Running out onto the flight deck of the Aether, she makes it to the edge right as a Siegfried with a bat skull insignia hovers low in front of her.

"Mikumo, where are you running off to?" Arad's voice is calm, which Mikumo didn't expect.

"I think we both know where I'm off to, Captain." Mikumo answers blankly.

"You're going to jump off the edge regardless of what I say, aren't you?"

Mikumo smiles. "What else would you expect from me?"

Arad huffs. "Alright, I give. At least let me take you to the impact zone."

"You're not gonna trick me and take me back to the bridge, right? I already ran all the way from there to here, so I'd much rather not waste any more energy."

"Relax, I'm not going to. Here, hop on." Arad says as he extends his arm out towards Mikumo.

She jumps on to his hand and Arad turns to hover towards where the two Chronos and Hayate are hovering. Mirage, Chuck, and Messer join them as Arad nears.

"Captain, is Mikumo-" Chuck starts.

"Yeah, she'll be the one to get him." Arad says as he lowers his Siegfried as close to the water as possible. Right as Mikumo readies herself to jump, Arad adds, "After all, she's really into him."

Mikumo nearly trips off his hand as Delta Platoon bursts into laughter. She turns and glares at Arad through the cockpit, but he chuckles anyway. "By the way, Mikumo. If the cockpit hasn't been breached yet, which I hope it hasn't, make sure he's conscious before you try to get him out."

"Also, there are a few caves with moderately large air openings around this area, so if you can't get him to the surface, try there." Chuck adds.

"We've already called for the rest of Walkure to assist you when they get here." Mirage says as she and Hayate fly off back to the Aether.

"Alright, is there anything else I need to know?" Mikumo quickly asks.

"Watch out for the octopus, it likes to grab and squeeze people." Chuck says.

Mikumo looks at him with raised eyebrows before jumping off of Arad's hand and diving into the water.

Messer looks at Chuck. "Really? An octopus that likes to grab and squeeze people?"

"Hey, I was actually serious about that. There's been reports of a few around here that have been dragging some of the locals deep into the ocean. Of course, no one's died or drowned, you know, but I don't think Mikumo wants to get introduced to them, in any case."

"I guess you forgot about our anonymity, Messer." One of the female voices sound through the comm.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter now, Captain Takamura." The other female voice says.

Captain Takamura sighs. "Really? I thought you were the one who always follows the rules, Masaki."

"It doesn't matter, for one thing," Messer interrupts. "because you're both going to have to introduce yourselves to the Captain anyway. Unless you feel like running off without saying a word."

"You're getting a little hotheaded, Messer. Is it because you got to see the object of your affection?" Captain Takamura says levely.

"One, I'm only stating facts, and two-" Messer's voice becomes much more steely, sending shivers up her spine. "DON'T refer to Kaname as an 'object,' EVER."

"I told you not to go for low blows on Messer, _Yui_." Masaki emphasizes the last word, making the other flinch.

"K-Kiriko, I told you not to call me that, especially when we're on a mission." The older pilot stutters.

"The two of you can continue this, later. For now, we'll just have to wait for Walkure to arrive, or for Mikumo to return with whoever it is that crashed."

The two pilots exhale.

"Fine, but you're not off the hook, Messer. You're still acting a bit over the edge."

"OK. You can have your reunion with your lover when she gets here."

Messer clears his throat, again. "I'd prefer if you didn't call her that."

"Yeah, she'd prefer to be called whatever you call her in bed." Chuck mutters, which everyone, including Hayate and Mirage, hear.

Everyone bursts into laughter, sans Messer, Kiriko, and Yui.

Meanwhile, Mikumo, ignoring all the chatter above, swims down to the bottom of the ocean, which, she noted, wasn't as deep as she expected. It was easy to spot Shiro's Kairos sitting at the bottom of the ocean, as it was noticeably lighter, and wasn't actually at the bottom of the ocean, so to speak. Its nose was jammed into a rock, and its tail end was supported by a cave-like rock structure. She swam closer to inspect the status and damage on the Kairos. The left arm was completely gone, there were burn marks on the wings, and they were visibly bent. The legs were partially extended, as was the right arm. Mikumo also noted that the guns weren't drawn. She swam towards the cockpit of the Kairos, hoping to see if Shiro was okay. Unfortunately, because of the tint on both her helmet visor and the tint on the canopy of the Kairos, she was only able to make out Shiro's unmoving silhouette. The canopy didn't appear to be damaged, so she tried tapping on the metal to see if Shiro was conscious.

"Shiro? Can you hear me, Shiro?" She calls out to him.

A minute drags by before Shiro responds. *Cough* "Mikumo? What are you doing?"

Mikumo lets out a soft sigh of relief. "I was worried about you, so I came down here to get you."

"Are you alone?" Shiro asks, both disorientated and surprised at the effort Mikumo took to get to him.

"Yeah, I am. Are you injured?"

"I think I'm okay, save for a few bruises and a headache." Shiro says as his vision begins to clear.

"Ok, hang on. I'm going to see if I can get you out." Mikumo says, unaware of the movement behind her.

Shiro tenses as he sees the shape behind her extend itself towards her. "Mikumo, behind you. Move!"

Mikumo turns just in time to see a light orange octopus tentacle reach toward her. "What-"

It wraps a tentacle around her arm, causing her to flinch. She tries to pull away, but the octopus yanks her towards itself. It wraps another tentacle around her waist, squeezing her tightly enough to make her yelp. She kicks the octopus' body hard, causing its grip on her to relent. She pries herself free before swimming away from it. Before she can put enough distance between herself and the octopus, the latter wraps a tentacle around each of her legs, wrapping all the way to her knees. It tugs forcefully at her until she's right next to it again. Before she can act, it wraps a tentacle around her chest, and as her arms move to push it off, two more tentacles wrap around her arms, squeezing her arms between her tentacle-wrapped chest. It tightens around her, making a sound as it squeezes her. Mikumo's cries turn into screams of pain. Meanwhile, Shiro was securing his swords to his back and punching the canopy of his cockpit. Each blow made a crack, but the canopy was more durable than he imagined or wanted. After the top of the canopy was covered with spider web cracks, Shiro stands up as much as he can and takes a deep breath before he elbows the canopy with as much force as he could muster within the confines of his cockpit. It shatters, and Shiro kicks out of the cockpit, ignoring the flood of water rushing into the cockpit. He draws a sword as he swims toward the strangled Mikumo, who was still struggling. Her eyes turn toward him, and for a brief moment, they're filled with relief. It quickly ends when a tentacle reaches around her neck and squeezes. Mikumo's eyes bulge briefly as she lets out a pained scream, her voice hoarse. The octopus turns its head towards Shiro, its black eye staring off at him, and in turn, moving Mikumo away from him. He stabs its only free tentacle as it lashes out at him. The octopus tries to reel it back, taking Shiro with it. Not sparing a moment, Shiro stabs the octopus' head, and seeing as it was still twitching erratically, he draws his second sword and stabs it a second time before taking hold of both swords. He forces them apart, splicing the head. It goes limp, but its tentacles remain firmly attached to Mikumo, who by this point, was barely moving. Shiro begins slicing apart the tentacles around a now unconscious Mikumo. As he frees her, Shiro looks around to see if there was a place where a pocket of air might form. Seeing a cave-like rock formation, he stows his swords on his back and wraps an arm around Mikumo, swimming as fast as he can. He feels his chest tighten painfully, and with all of his energy, he kicks as hard as he can until he reaches the top. His head breaks the surface, and he coughs painfully. Looking around, he sees a rock platform. Mikumo still in his arm, he pulls himself onto the platform before gently pulling Mikumo onto the platform. He kneels before he pulls her helmet off and checks her breathing. Seeing as she was still breathing, he turns to scan the rest of her body. Her suit was ripped in multiple places, and as Shiro inspected, they were all where the octopus wrapped its tentacles around her. Her fair skin was exposed from the knee down to her feet, her upper arms were visible, and a significant amount of her breasts were exposed, the area level with her arms. Her neck was also exposed, a small bruise under her chin. Her light, rosy lips and long, flowing violet hair made for an absolutely beautiful combination; Shiro quickly realized he couldn't stop himself from staring at her, and he felt a little guilty on the inside for it, but restraint holding, he didn't lay a finger on her. He gently caressed her cheek after feeling the pulse from her neck. Her lips trembled slightly, and as Shiro leaned in closer, Mikumo sputtered, her body shaking briefly. Her crimson eyes fluttered open to see Shiro leaning towards her. She gazed at him for a minute, her eyes cloudy until she blinked a couple times and realized they were millimeters from touching each other's foreheads. She blushed deeply as she tried to pull away; she yelped as a sharp pain shot through her body. She felt Shiro hold her by her head and shoulders, and as she locked eyes with him, she suddenly found herself unable to tear her eyes away from him. They stared at each other as Shiro gently rested her against the wall. They stayed that way until they heard the sound of water moving. Shiro's hand instinctively reached for a sword, but instead of an octopus or a soldier, a helmet identical to Mikumo's, save for a red visor instead of violet, broke the surface of the water. Kaname turned towards them as she climbed onto the rock platform.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She says with a smirk.

"What do you mean by that?" Shiro and Mikumo respond in sync.

"I think you know what I mean." Kaname says, an eyebrow raised.

As they were speaking, three more helmets appeared, one pink, one green, and one orange. Makina, Reina, and Freyja all climb onto the platform and look at Shiro and Mikumo with mixed expressions.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Mikumo?" Reina says with a suggestive tone.

"I don't think he'd do anything to Mikumo." Makina says. Before Shiro can relax, she adds, "Not while we're close by, anyway." She winks at Shiro.

Shiro frowns as an eyebrow twitches.

"Are you guys okay?" Freyja asks, ignoring the rest of Walkure's suggestive conversations.

Shiro exhales softly as he starts to stand up. "Mikumo is injured, and I feel-" He lurches over and coughs up blood before falling to one knee.

The comical atmosphere dissipates as Shiro hacks more blood onto the cave floor.

"Shiro?!" Mikumo cries, the concern evident in her voice. She tries to get up and assist him, but Freyja gently pushes her down. Her look tells Mikumo not to move, much to the latter's dismay.

"You're already hurt, Mikumo-san. Please don't hurt yourself." She softly tells the violet-haired singer.

"Shiro, are you okay?!" Kaname asks as she runs over to him. She unhooks an object, presumably a medkit, from behind her as Shiro leans against the wall, clutching at his abdomen.

"Mikumo, is he injured?" Reina asks as Kaname hands her the kit. Kaname moves behind Shiro, trying to support him.

"I didn't see any injuries on him!" Mikumo says as Makina and Freyja move to help Kaname lower Shiro to the floor. Mikumo shifts herself over to Shiro, who had taken his swords off his back and rested them against the nearby cave wall.

"Don't fuss too much over this," Shiro says as he coughs again. "it's just a puncture wound."

"What do you mean, just a puncture wound?!" Freyja exclaims.

"Shiro, you could die from this!" Makina yells at him as he sits up, to everyone's surprise.

Shiro's expression is unreadable as he takes the medkit from Reina and takes out a roll of bandages and a couple alcohol pads. "Trust me, if something like this could kill me, I would be long dead."

Kaname's eyes narrow at Shiro. "I hope you're not just trying to act tough, Shiro."

Shiro slips off his jacket and pulls off his shirt with minor difficulty. He inspects his lower left abdomen; there is a small slit that was bleeding lightly. He wasn't paying attention to the girls as he cleaned the slit, but they were all staring at his upper body. To say it was forged steel would be an insult. His torso, while not visibly bulky, had to have durability equivalent to a tank's. The scars that littered his body wouldn't belong on any normal human's. There were two horizontal scars that ran just above his abs, which they noticed, were godly. From her angle, Freyja could see that the two scars ran almost halfway into his torso. On his pectorals, there were five different scars of different lengths, all at different angles, that crossed where his heart would be. In the center of his chest, there was intersection of what appeared to be animal claws, a tri-slash mark meeting another. From behind him, Mikumo took in the multitude of scars on his back; of the ten on his back, seven were diagonal, of differing lengths and angles, two formed an 'x' on his left, and the last was horizontal, almost in line with his spine. She also took in the two different scars on his neck, now clearly visible. One on his left ran basically halfway into his neck, and the one on his right ran a similar distance. It appeared that they would've met had one not been somewhat higher than the other. As he wrapped the bandages around his wound, he relaxed visibly, which raised a few questions in their mind.

Kaname is the first to recover. "Shiro, do you mind if I ask you something?"

He finishes tying the bandages before looking up. "No, what is it?"

She looks off to the side before looking back at him. "Those scars...how did you receive them?"

Shiro puts the supplies back into the medkit. "Most of these I received back on my home planet. These," He points to his neck and upper left chest. "are from when people tried to kill me." Seeing their reactions, he adds, "Not to be rude, but the stories should wait until things have settled down a bit."

Reina leans back. "So you weren't kidding when you said a wound like that wouldn't kill you."

Shiro closes the kit and hands it back to Kaname. "No, I was not. Give it a few days and this will heal over."

Makina eyebrows furrow slightly. "You could've at least told us you weren't in danger of dying, Shiro. We were worried about you."

"To be fair, I actually did; you all just didn't believe me." Shiro says as he puts his shirt back on. "That aside, I think you all should be more worried about Mikumo. She did just get strangled by an octopus."

The girls all look at Mikumo and inspect the damage to her suit.

"So Chuck-san really wasn't lying about the octopus?" Freyja asks, eyeing Mikumo's exposed skin.

"I guess so. I thought he was just really kinky." Reina says without a hint of humor.

Everyone stares at Reina for a moment. Shiro and Mikumo give Reina empty stares.

After a minute, Makina speaks first. "Y-you really think he's into that kind of thing?"

"Makina!" Kaname exclaims, her gaze flickering between her and Mikumo.

"What? I didn't suggest it." Makina says nonchalantly.

"For all we know, Shiro could've been into that and we wouldn't have known." Reina adds, giving Shiro a suggestive smile.

"GUYS." Kaname rubs her forehead.

"Okay, okay. Jeez, Kaname. You're so uptight. It's not like they know what we're talking about, anyway." Reina tilts her head.

"You don't know that, Reina. And besides, Mikumo's not exactly the most socially integrated person here, so I'd rather the first things she learn from us not involve fetishes." Freyja was sputtering softly and blushing intensely, her discomfort obvious.

"You're a little late for that, Kaname." Mikumo states blankly.

Kaname's eyes widen, along with Freyja's, Makina's and Reina's. Shiro simply turned his head towards the ceiling.

"What do you mean, Mikumo?" Kaname slowly asks.

"I mean I know what fetishes are, and some of the more common ones." Mikumo says, staring at the singers levelly.

"When did you learn about all that?" Makina asks, her tone exuding shock.

"You don't remember? You pulled me aside a month or so ago and showed me a website with videos of people enacting different kinds of sex." Mikumo says, her eyes flickering briefly as she recalls the memory.

"...I didn't expect you to remember that." Reina says after a moment.

"You guys..." Kaname frowns at the singer duo, her eyebrows twitching.

"I can vouch for Mikumo that they did show that kind of thing to her." Freyja says as she rubs the back of her neck.

"Oh, don't act like you didn't enjoy it, Fre-Fre!" Makina bursts at the Windermerean singer.

"Yeah, you actually watched it halfway through before stopping." Reina adds.

Freyja's rune flashes briefly as she sputters. "I-I didn't know what it was at the time, I actually thought they were making a movie or something!"

"Oh yeah, then why did you lean in when the guy with _blue, spiky,_ hair jumped on the girl?" Reina smirks at Freyja.

"T-That-I didn't!" Freyja sputters, trying to convince both herself and her fellow singers.

"I don't want to be rude, but can this conversation wait? At least, until we get back to the Aether?" Shiro asks, the slightest hint of agitation in his voice.

"Why, Shiro?" Makina smiles at Shiro cheekily.

"Does this make you uncomfortable?" Reina adds with a similar expression.

"I'm sure it's making the rest of Delta Platoon and whoever listening in on your conversation uncomfortable." Shiro says flatly.

At that moment, Kaname checked to see who was currently on the channel and found that in addition to all of Delta Platoon, Messer and his two companions, and the bridge was listening to their conversation. All the singers, sans Mikumo felt their blood run cold, especially Freyja and Kaname, as Hayate and Messer were the first ones to speak.

"I think we all owe Shiro a solid for stopping this conversation when he did. I do not need any more of this awkward shit right now." Hayate says.

"I was hoping he would've stopped it earlier. At least I know Reina and Makina haven't changed a bit." Messer notes.

"Save it, you two." Arad interrupts. "Kaname, what's Mikumo's and Shiro's status?"

"Shiro's-" Kaname looks at Shiro. "Shiro's fine. Mikumo's sustained moderate injuries, but I think she can make it up."

"Good. We're organizing the rest of our forces, along with our new friends."

"Have we identified who they are?"

"Yes, but we'll debrief you all when you get back; there's somethings we shouldn't say over an insecure line."

"Roger that, we're on our way back."

As the line closed, Freyja looks between Shiro and Kaname.

"Umm, Kaname-san? I think we forgot to mention something."

Kaname turns to Freyja. "What is it?"

"Shiro-san doesn't have a helmet. How is he going to get back to the surface without drowning?" She says, concern in her big emerald eyes.

Shiro puts his jacket on. "Don't worry about me. The longest I've ever held my breath was for ten minutes. That should be long enough for me to get to the surface." He attaches his swords to his back, the action making a low humming sound.

"Well, if you start to drown, there's four of us, so we should be able to drag you up anyhow." Reina says.

"That doesn't sound pleasant." Mikumo says flatly.

"Are you well enough to swim, Mikumo?" Shiro asks.

Mikumo stretches her arms and back. "As long as I don't get strangled by an octopus on my way up, I think I'll be fine." She puts her helmet on.

"Shall we get going?" Shiro asks as he walks over to the edge.

"Yeah, let's go." Kaname agrees as she and the other singers walk over to the edge.

Shiro takes a deep breath as they all jump into the water. They dive down through the opening in the rock and begin to swim upwards. As they swam, they could see bits and pieces of twisted metal from the Elysion, and Mikumo turned to Shiro to see if he was fine; he didn't appear to be having any trouble at all. As they approached the surface, Kaname informed Arad and the others of their imminent arrival. Right before they broke the surface, multiple Siegfrieds began to hover close to the water. Freyja didn't even get a chance to break the surface, as a metal hand literally scooped her out of the water, much to Walkure's surprise. She yelped in surprise before recognizing the color of the arm holding her.

"You couldn't wait for me to get back, could you?" She grins at her boyfriend.

"No, not really. I didn't want to risk you being attacked by an octopus." Hayate's voice holds no humor.

"I told you, there's no way he'd be serious, Hayate." Mirage scolds.

"I swear I wasn't kidding about that, Mirage." Chuck pleads.

"Yeah, he really wasn't, Mirage-san." Freyja says to her friend.

"Wait, what?" Mirage asks incredulously.

"I severely doubt that." Messer adds.

Right as he said that, Shiro, Mikumo, Makina, and Reina all break the surface. Shiro exhales as he looks around at the Siegfrieds hovering around him.

"Hey, Shiro? Is there really an octopus that goes around strangling people?" Mirage asks Shiro.

"Not anymore, I assume." Shiro responds blankly.

"Anymore?" Messer asks.

"Correct. Unless there is more than one, there will no longer be any octopuses attacking people."

"See? I told you all there was an octopus that went around and strangled people!" Chuck proclaims as he lowers his hand enough for Reina to get on.

Mirage says nothing as she lets Makina climb onto her hand. Shiro looks intently at Messer's Siegfried as the hand lowers towards Kaname, who briefly looked at Arad before turning towards Messer with a smile. Shiro and Mikumo look at the two as Arad hovers close to them, hand extended.

"Here, hop on." Arad says in his usual tone.

Mikumo nods gratefully, but as she tries to kick up to grab a hold on his hand, a sharp pain races through her leg and she cries out as she falls into the water. The feeling of falling quickly dissipated as Shiro gently grabbed her and leaned her backwards. She turned her head to see Shiro holding her by shoulders; his face was calm, like usual, but there was a warm, unusual feeling coming from him. She felt her cheeks heat up, and she turned her head down instinctively.

"Oi, you two lovebirds get on. We have things to do." Arad teases the two.

"We-we're not like that." Mikumo stutters softly.

Shiro said nothing as he put his hands on Mikumo's waist and lifted her up onto Arad's hand. When she climbed on, Shiro grabbed the edge and pulled himself up quickly. Mikumo took off her helmet and rested it in a crevice between the hand and the arm. As they lifted off, Mikumo was suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness, and she almost fell off. Shiro quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. She blushed intensely, but she didn't look away this time. She turned towards him, the wind in her hair and a blush on her cheeks. Shiro felt his chest tighten, and it wasn't from his injuries. He didn't blush, but he didn't stop staring at her either. Mikumo looked as though she was going to say something, but instead, she simply closed her eyes and leaned against Shiro. She felt herself slip, but not before she felt Shiro caress her cheeks and pull her snugly against him. She smiled as she passed out. Shiro looked at the tinted canopy of Arad's Siegfried and wondered if the senior pilot had seen or heard any of the past few minutes. He quickly reasoned that if Arad did notice anything, he might've just let them have their moment; if he noticed, he'd definitely hear about it later.

Later, as Delta Platoon was landing on the Aether, Shiro tried to wake up Mikumo without forcing it, but seeing how tired she must have been from being strangled and from the previous battle, in addition to having discovered some new abilities, he simply picked her up and carried her towards the group. Kaname and the other singers look towards him with varied degrees of surprise. Their respective pilots come up from behind them as Arad walks up to them from behind them.

"She's out cold, isn't she?" Kaname asks, a hand on her hip.

"It would appear so. I suppose I could wake her if I were to be more forceful..." Shiro starts.

"You'd love to be forceful with Mikumo, wouldn't you Shiro?" Reina winks at Shiro, who frowns in response.

"Do you always have to be so suggestive, Reina?" Messer frowns at the green-haired singer.

"Do you always have to act like you have a stick up your ass?" Reina shoots back, the humor completely gone.

"Reina!" Kaname starts, but Makina cuts her off.

"Messer, unless you plan on ditching us and going to back to whoever you're with right now, it'd help you and us if you just acted a little more friendly. At least right now, given the fact that you have a _lot_ of explaining to do right now." Makina's voice didn't have its usual bubbliness.

"We can explain all that later, but I think a little rest would be helpful to us all." A woman's voice comes from behind the singers and pilots.

She is basically Kaname's height, with brown hair in a ponytail that reached her elbows, and violet eyes. Strangely enough, her pilot suit is similar to the SMS' pilot suits, although hers has a thorned-wrapped rose on the shoulder instead of the SMS emblem. She didn't have a chest plate, but had shin and forearm guards. There was also a lack of the SMS emblem on her chest, which, everyone noticed, was fairly ample. Another women walks towards them from the two Chronos parked. She is an inch or so taller than Reina; her hair is silver, and she has gold eyes almost equivalent in size to Freyja's. She is not nearly as curvaceous as the other pilot, but she has modest curves of her own. She is also wearing a pilot suit similar to the other pilot. Shiro looked at Messer and noticed the difference between their suits; Messer's suit had a chest plate and neck guards similar to Chaos pilot suits, aside from that, their suits were relatively the same.

"Messer, who are they?" Kaname asks the resurrected Grim Reaper.

He motions to the taller woman. "This is Captain Yui Takamura, ISDF Alpha Squad Leader." He points out the other one. "She is Kiriko Masaki, ISDF Bravo Squad Leader. Both are pilots of the Alpha Company Elites, aka the ACEs."

"It's nice to meet you two." Kaname starts. "I would introduce ourselves, but I assume you already know who we are?"

"Yes, we know all of you by name, but I do not mean to be rude." Yui says.

"That's okay, I figured as much anyway." Kaname replies. "And besides, it just speeds things up. Normally, Arad and I would include everyone here in a debrief, but seeing as how pretty much everyone here is spent, I think Arad and I will be the one you ladies talk to. Aside from Captain Ernest, that is."

"If you all need a day or so to rest, that's fine with us. We have to check in with our commander anyways." Kiriko notes.

"Pardon me for saying this, but if you're going to leave temporarily, I would like to have a reassurance that you'll come back." Arad says. "Don't get me wrong, we're grateful for the assistance you and your forces lent just now, but I think you can see why we want this."

Yui and Kiriko look at each other and nod.

"Very well then, would the three of us," Yui motions to herself, Kiriko, and Messer. "be enough for you to trust us?"

"That will do. As for accommodations, you may have to share a room; you'll both have beds, of course, but that's just how it is." Arad explains.

"Actually, Captain, we still have the female and male dormitories. They'll still have to share, but I think we can accommodate them. It's just Walkure and Delta Platoon, anyway." Chuck puts in.

"Oh, I almost forgot we had those. You ladies don't mind sleeping with Walkure, right?" Arad asks the two female pilots.

They glance at each other and nod. "No, we wouldn't mind." They both say.

"Alright, that settles that; Messer, you already got a room here, so there's nothing for you to worry about." Arad then grins at the tall pilot. "Unless you want a room with Kaname."

Messer's jaw drops briefly before he clears his throat. He seemed to be in the process of calming down as Hayate and Freyja joke.

"You know he's debating it." Hayate chuckles.

"I don't think Kaname-san would be against it." Freyja giggles.

Kaname's cheeks turn red and Messer suddenly found the bridge incredibly interesting. Things got even more awkward when Reina and Kiriko joined in.

"Well, as long as she consents, it's technically not sexual harassment." Reina stoically notes.

"Don't guys always carry condoms in their wallets?" Kiriko asks in a similar tone.

"I-I don't even have my wallet on me." Messer says, trying to stop them.

"Well, Kaname's on birth control, just like the rest of us, so you've got the green light." Reina smirks, giving Messer the thumbs up.

Kaname's face was as red as her hair at this point. "G-guys, stop it; we get your point."

"I'm sure Messer's got a _point,_ don't you Messer?" Makina grins at Messer, who by this point, was definitely blushing.

"Please, I think we should all get some sleep." Messer says, his voice pleading.

"Only if Kaname lets you." Mirage mutters with a grin.

At this point, everyone except for the couple in question, Shiro, and the still unconscious Mikumo burst out laughing for a solid three minutes. Shiro cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. It was at this point, they all realized two things: one-Mikumo was still out cold, and two-Shiro had been holding Mikumo ever since they all landed. Shiro didn't even look annoyed, but it was obvious he needed to say something.

"What's wrong, Shiro?" Arad asks.

"Aside from the fact that we've been standing here for longer than we need to have been, someone needs help me attend to Mikumo." Shiro states blankly.

"Wait, why?" Kaname asks, almost recovered from her blushing fit.

"Do you want me to be the one that changes Mikumo out of her clothes?"

Everyone looks at Mikumo, her suit tattered and torn in multiple places, when they all realized she wasn't wearing a bra. There was a possibility that she was wearing a revealing tube top underneath her suit, but the only person they knew who wore tube tops was Mirage, and she wasn't even wearing one.

"Heh, why'd you say something about that, Shiro? You could've gotten a free glimpse at Mikumo's naked body." Makina teases.

Shiro frowns. "I gave Mikumo my word that I wouldn't act in such a way towards her, and I intend to keep my word. Just because I'm presented with a rare opportunity that I assume no other man has had doesn't mean I will throw away my decency and act like an animal."

"What a gentleman." All the females say.

It was at this point all the males shot Shiro a dangerous look. For the first time in a while, Shiro felt incredibly uncomfortable. It remained like that before the air lost its tension and everyone relaxed.

"Now then, can we take care of our business and get some rest?" Arad asks.

The answer was unanimous. Yui, Kiriko, and Messer all agreed to debrief Captain Ernest and the essential leadership of Chaos' Ragna Division later in the afternoon, for the sake of everyone getting some rest. Freyja volunteered to help Shiro attend to Mikumo, much to Hayate's dismay. As they Shiro and Freyja went to one of the changing rooms, Freyja looked at Shiro out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, Shiro. Can I ask you something?" Her face is solemn, which immediately put Shiro at attention.

"Yes, what is it?" Shiro looks at Freyja and notices her rune is a light purple. In his mind, he reasoned that her rune was representative of her emotions.

"I want to know a bit about your home planet."

Shiro nearly stopped for a moment. "What do you want to know?" His voice is level, but his expression betrays a twinge of pain.

"What's it like for you to have received such bad scars?" She asks as they reach the changing room.

Shiro takes a deep breath. "Before I answer, I'd like to know why you are asking me when we're basically alone. If you were so curious, you could've asked earlier. What makes you ask now?"

Freyja taps on the pad, opening the door. "I figured you'd be uncomfortable answering in front of a group, considering how much you are right now."

Shiro sighs as he gently lays Mikumo against the wall. "I'll be honest; it's a horrible place, a killing ground the size of a planet. It attracts people and gets them killed faster than they can realize something's wrong. On top of that..." He makes an expression that's a cross between a cringe and a glare. "Nevermind that." He looks around for something to lay Mikumo on.

He turns to see Freyja laying a sheet on the ground. She opens a locker and pulls out a black t-shirt with a Chaos logo on it, a mid length skirt, and a pair of low black heels. It looked too big for Freyja, but looked about right on Mikumo. She also pulled out a bra and a pair of panties that were definitely too big for her.

"I'm sorry for asking." Freyja's face was crestfallen. For some reason, Shiro didn't want her to be that way. A face and a few memories flashed before his eyes. He gently rubbed her head and she looked up at him, a light blush on her face.

"Don't worry about it, I don't expect you to do anything about it. I'll tell you all more when I feel a bit more comfortable talking about it, or if it becomes relevant." He looks at her, his smile gentle and honest.

She smiles back at him. "Ok!"

"Now then..." Shiro trails off as he glances between the pile of clothes and the unconscious Mikumo. His mouth curves downward slightly as he mentally debates on how to change Mikumo.

Freyja gently jabs at him. "Don't worry, I can take care of this myself. Just make sure no one comes in here."

Shiro lets out a breath of relief. "Thank you. I would do it myself, but it would take longer than needed."

"Why?" Freyja looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'd have to blindfold myself." Shiro says flatly.

"Can you even do anything blindfolded?" She asks. She then makes a face that says, "Nevermind, you probably can."

Shiro smirks. "There's not much I'm not capable of as a human."

"I'm not sure you're even human." She giggles in her signature laugh.

"That's because I'm not really human." Shiro sighs under his breath.

"Eh, what'd you say?" Freyja looks up as she takes off the remains of Mikumo's tattered collar.

"Try to finish before she wakes up. The last thing she remembers before falling asleep was me holding her; I don't need her to think I'd undress her while she's sleeping."

At the same time, Kaname and the rest of Walkure took Yui and Kiriko to the girl's dormitory after the singers changed out of their suit and into their Chaos clothes. During that time, they made a call to their superiors to inform them of the current situation. Other than that, they didn't say anything else. Mirage took note of their conversations, although she made no sign of recording it. She volunteered to shower first while Kaname and the other singers found some clothes for Yui and Kiriko.

Kaname walked up to the two pilots, followed by Makina and Reina. Both singers of the duo are holding clothes of some sort. Makina walks over to Yui, and Reina walks over to Kiriko.

"Here, I hope this is okay." Makina says to Yui. She hands the pilot a light blue blouse that's slightly widened around the chest area, a pair of knee-length pants, a pair of loafers, and underwear that was definitely made for a curvaceous women.

Yui looks at her, slightly surprised. "This all looks about my size. How did you know the measurements?"

Makina smiles. "I didn't." She then winks at Yui. "They're my size."

Meanwhile, Kiriko and Reina watched the conversation as Reina hands Kiriko a pair of mid-thigh shorts, a t-shirt, a sweater, and some sneakers. "I don't think I have a bra that matches your bust size, and yours are probably too small for everyone else's. If it becomes uncomfortable, you might wanna ask Freyja for a bra."

Kiriko takes the clothes gratefully. "Thanks. I'm wearing a tube top, so I think I'll be fine anyways."

"We have a room ready to be slept in, I hope you two don't mind sharing. As the recent hours have been a mess of sorts, one of you might have to sleep in the same bed as someone else. The only beds that can accommodate two people are mine and Makina's."

Kiriko raises her hand. "I don't mind sharing a bed. Yui's a pain to sleep with, so she'll take the extra room."

Yui frowns at the smaller pilot. "You just don't like the fact that my chest is bigger than yours." She says this without any humor.

"That's because you have a tendency to roll onto me and suffocate me with those." Kiriko says.

Yui doesn't say anything, her lip curled slightly. "I can't help it. I don't like sleeping still." She mumbles.

Kaname and the other singers laugh. "Well, I don't really move around much in my sleep, Kiriko. Do you want to sleep with me?"

Kiriko smirks. "Sure, but I'm not making room for Messer."

"What's going on out here?" Mirage asks as she comes out wearing a pink nightgown and a towel around her neck.

"Nothing." Kaname quickly says, her cheeks a light pink.

"Well, I'd like to wrap up whatever it is you guys are doing, I could use some rest." Mirage says as Querele slides up next to her foot. She picks up the striped mercat and pets it.

"Yeah, I think we're done here." Kaname says as she looks in between all the singers and pilots. They all nod. "Okay then, let's clean up and get some rest."

Everyone agrees without question.

As the girls were finishing up their businesses, Messer and the rest of Delta Platoon, went back to the male dorm to rest. As they arrived at the dorm, Hayate looked at Messer out of the corner of his eye.

"So, Messer; you gonna sleep in your old room?" His tone has no emotion in it.

"I didn't realize it still belonged to me." Messer says in a lighter tone.

"Well, it certainly isn't Shiro's; he's sleeping on the Elysion right now." Arad says.

"Speaking of which, why is he sleeping on the Elysion? Aside from Messer's room, we have two extra rooms that aren't filled." Chuck asks as he walks behind the counter and fires up the stove.

"Also, Mikumo's sleeping on the Elysion, so naturally, Shiro has to be near her. She and Shiro are a special circumstance." Arad says as his stomach growls. "That reminds me, I'm starving."

"Me too. At this point, I think I'll even have raw jellyfish." Hayate adds.

Messer opened his mouth to decline, but his stomach spoke for him. The other three pilots look at him with humored expressions. He sighed softly. "Alright, I think I'll have some too."

The other three pilots laugh.

"Man, you really can't hide from us anymore, Messer." Chuck jokes as he pulls some jellyfish and spices from different cabinets and refrigerators.

"Really, lighten up, man." Hayate adds as he sits down in a chair.

Arad wraps an arm around Messer's neck and pulls him down, ignoring their height difference. "Messer, you remember what I've always been telling you? You know, before all _that_ happened?"

Messer looks at his former superior. "Jellyfish always taste better the more they swim?"

Chuck and Hayate shoot grins at Arad, who can only look disappointed. "Well, yes, but the _other_ thing."

"FOR FUCKS SAKE, MESSER, LIGHTEN UP A BIT." Chuck and Hayate both comically yell at the Grim Reaper.

"What's going on in here?" Kaname asks as she pokes her head in the door.

All the males freeze at the sight of the red-haired singer looking through the door. Her head is soon accompanied by Reina's and Makina's.

"Is this a bad time?" Kaname softly asks, trying not to laugh.

Arad and Messer quickly disengage, while Hayate and Chuck can only laugh their asses off. Chuck didn't laugh as hard, as he was focusing on cooking.

"Yeah, you guys can come in." Arad says.

Messer clears his throat while Hayate takes in a deep breath with a grin on his face. The three singers, plus the three pilots walk in. Yui and Kiriko are wearing the clothes that Makina and Reina, respectively, gave them. Mirage comes in last wearing a white short sleeved blouse, brown shorts and black flats.

"So, you guys didn't feel like sleeping yet?" Hayate asks, the grin almost gone.

"Well, everyone agreed that they were hungry, and it turns out Yui and Kiriko have never had jellyfish before." Kaname explains.

"We figured they should at least try it while we're eating here." Reina adds.

"All things considered, you ladies came at a convenient time; I'm making food right now." Chuck smiles at the group of women.

"I assume you wouldn't mind making a few extra portions?" Makina asks.

"No, not at all. Since we're all here, wanna see if we can call up Shiro and Mikumo? I know Freyja's with them as well." Chuck suggests.

"I don't see why not; other than the fact that whenever we get together like this and eat as much as I think we're about to, we usually go into mini food comas." Hayate rubs the back of his neck.

"How do you always find a reason to complain?" Messer looks down on his successor.

"First of all, I'm not actually complaining; I'm already going to sleep like a rock tonight, and second, I'd like to see you prove me wrong." Hayate smirks at Messer.

Messer opened his mouth, but quickly shut it. It was obvious he couldn't say anything that wasn't along the lines of 'you're just a slacker,' or 'big words from someone who can't fly well at all.'

As if reading his thoughts, Hayate continued. "Look, if you want proof that I've been pulling my weight in your absence, including my progress as a pilot, you can-"

"Hayate." Arad says, his voice level. "We can discuss this after we eat and get some rest."

Hayate exhales silently. "Understood."

Right as the mood seemed to be at its lowest, someone's cell rang. Oddly enough, the ring tone was a song, one sung by a certain Windermerean. It wasn't very loud, actually very soft in comparison to other ringtones; it just happened to be quiet enough for everyone to hear it. Everyone looked at Hayate as he opened his cell.

"Hello? Freyja? Nothing much; everyone's gathered at the Ragnyannyan right now. Chuck's cooking right now. Want some? I'll tell Chuck to make you some. I don't know if they'd want some. Did you ask them? Shiro's standing right next to you, isn't he? Just ask him."

A few seconds pass as Hayate gets up and looks out the window. "Okay then, that's a strange request, but I'll see what I can do. What about Mikumo? Is she okay right now? Oh, really? Ok then, I'll see you then." He smiles. "I love you too. Bye." He puts his cell phone back in his pocket and turns around to see everyone staring at him with a variety of expressions.

"What?" Hayate asks, looking in between the mixed expressions of amusement and surprise.

"Your ringtone is Freyja's song..." Messer starts.

"And yours isn't Kaname's?" Hayate asks, an eyebrow raised.

"No, it isn't." Messer says flatly.

"Alright, Messer, whatever helps you sleep at night." Hayate says dismissively as someone knocks on the door.

The door opens slightly as Freyja pokes her head inside. "Hello?"

Hayate raises a hand. "Hey Freyja."

Freyja smiles as she enters the restaurant, followed by Shiro and Mikumo. Mikumo is wearing the clothes Freyja found for her, while Shiro is wearing a gray t-shirt, black pants and black boots. He is carrying a case that looks to be the length of his arms. Yui and Kiriko turn and inspect him with raised eyebrows. Pretending not to notice, Shiro looks at Mikumo, who is staring blankly.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

She looks at him and nods. "Yeah, I think I'm well enough to walk around and eat a bit. Besides, I'm hungry."

"But you said you didn't want anything that had tentacles." Shiro says.

"Yeah, what about it?" Mikumo asks back, not getting it.

"If I understand Chuck's restaurant correctly, _everything_ has tentacles." Shiro says flatly.

Mikumo's eyes widen slightly and she looks at Chuck, who is in the process of holding a living, twitching jellyfish. She pales slightly as she wobbles against Shiro.

Shiro sighs. "I think we should just go to the Elysion. At least nothing there will traumatize you more."

"Hold on, it's not like the only thing we serve here is jellyfish-related. We serve fish too." Chuck says quickly.

"Yeah, but that cheeky mercat keeps stealing the fish." Reina notes.

"Well, maybe Shiro can catch the mercat." Chuck says as he pulls out a fish from the refrigerator.

"You served food knowing that there was a possibility of it being stolen by the native wildlife?" Yui asks levely.

"Look, when you meet this mercat, you'll understand." Chuck says as he puts the fish on a cutting board. "Hey, Hayate. Give me a hand here."

Hayate gets up and goes behind the counter, pulling his hair back and putting plastic gloves on. "Didn't we have Ragnan spiders or whatever during our mission on Windermere?" He asks as Chuck hands him a knife.

"Don't talk about that." Mikumo says as she grips Shiro's arm.

"I don't mind cooking fish, it's just that damn mercat. It was fine the first couple times, but he's basically a regular now." Chuck says as he continues cooking the jellyfish.

"Yeah, this mercat is a lot more elusive than you'd expect." Makina adds.

"We'll see about that." Shiro says as he guides Mikumo to a table and sits her down.

About ten minutes later, Hayate and Chuck finished cooking all the food and had started setting the food out. Aside from Mikumo, who had fish, everyone else was having jellyfish, cooked in a different way. Reina had it raw, Arad, Kaname, and Messer had theirs fried, and everyone else had theirs pan seared, otherwise known as Chuck's usual style of cooking. As everyone started to dig in, a splashing sound emanated from the deck.

"Aw dammit. He's back again." Chuck muttered as he started to stand up.

"Do you mind if I kill it?" Shiro asked blankly.

"Yes, I do. Just scare it enough to where he won't just hop in here and steal the customer's' fish." Chuck says, rubbing his neck.

"Very well then, but I will still need to borrow that knife." Shiro says.

As if waiting for them to finish talking, the mercat jumped onto Freyja's table where she, Hayate and Mirage were sitting. It used Hayate's face as a springboard, knocking him back off his chair. It shot towards Kaname's table, where she, Arad, Messer, Yui and Kiriko were sitting. Messer reached out to grab the mercat, but it jumped onto his arm and leapt forward. Like Hayate's, Messer's face was used as a springboard to launch itself towards where Mikumo was sitting. It seemed for a moment, the mercat had won this round. Shiro, however, had other plans. He grabbed the mercat by the face while it was in mid-air, stopping it dead in its tracks. Shiro looked around the restaurant to inspect the mess one mercat had made. Hayate was having a sneezing fit as he sat up; Messer was on the ground, a large wet spot on his face. He then turned to look at the mercat, which was glaring at him as it struggled to free itself. It jerked itself free, but before it could get remotely close to the door, Shiro picked up a knife from the table and pinned its tail to the floor. It made a pained sound, and as Shiro walked towards it, it struggled further. Shiro knelt down and stared at the mercat, which by this point, was frozen in terror. Shiro grabbed it by the stomach before pulling the knife out of its tail and the floor. He then turned to Chuck.

"I assume this is your fish thief?" Shiro says, holding the limp mercat.

"Yeah, that'd be him." Chuck says, eyeing the mercat, which made eye contact with him.

"What would you like to do with it?" Shiro asks.

"Hmm, dunno. Never thought we'd actually catch him." Chuck says nonchalantly.

"Is he okay?" Makina asks, looking at the slit in its tail.

"It should be fine." Shiro says.

"The mercat isn't an object, Shiro." Reina scolds the stoic bodyguard.

"The gender is irrelevant. Now, if we can't decide what to do with the mercat, I will throw it back into the ocean." Shiro says.

There was a soft mewing sound coming from the floor, and as everyone looked down, they all saw a black mercat mewing at Shiro's feet. It was looking up at him, or rather, the mercat in his hands. Everyone looked at the mercat on the floor, then at the one in Shiro's hands and put two and two together. Without saying anything, Shiro picked up the other mercat, causing it to squirm about. The fish thieving mercat started snarling at Shiro as he went out the door that led to the deck. A minute passed as the sound of snarling and mewing stopped, followed by a series of splashing sounds. Shiro returned to the dining area and sat down next to Mikumo.

Chuck spoke first. "You turned them loose, didn't you?"

Shiro wiped the blood off his hands. "Of course I did. I'm not a monster."

The room was consequently filled with a series of pfts and chuckles. Shiro said nothing as he took a bite of his jellyfish. Mikumo simply looked at him with a smile on her face. After that, their meals were otherwise uneventful. Between the chatter, there wasn't anything of interest. Everyone finished their meals and went to their respective sleeping areas, except for Shiro and Mikumo, who had to walk back to the Elysion. Luckily, because of the attack on the Macross warship, there was always materials and whatnot moving about from and to the Elysion, so there was a 24/7 shuttle service. As Shiro and Mikumo walked to their rooms, the latter suddenly tugged at Shiro's arm.

"What's wrong, Mikumo?" Shiro asks.

Mikumo fidgeted slightly before she pulled back, twiddling her fingers. "Umm, I-I uh...Can you, er...Are you a heavy sleeper?"

Shiro raised an eyebrow slightly. "That depends. Why? Do you need something?"

Mikumo nodded. "If I knock on the wall between our rooms, will you come?"

Shiro smiled gently at her, putting a hand on her head. "Yes, Mikumo. Don't worry about it."

Mikumo smiled before turning towards the door to her room. "Thank you, Shiro."

With that, she went inside. Shiro turned and walked into his room, opening the case that held his swords. He walked over to the orange circuit line-covered box that was his armory; it opened silently as he neared it, revealing the racks that suspended his different sword pairs. He placed them back onto their respective racks, then placing his sidearms back where they belonged. He took off his boots and laid down on his bed, finding sleep in less than a few minutes. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about Mikumo, and the power she didn't know she wielded; yet, for some reason, he knew about. He wondered why as sleep took over him.

* * *

 _The bridge of the Elysion_

Ernest was about to leave when the door behind him opened. He turned to see Toland standing there, a bandage wrapped around his head and wrist. His expression was one of concern.

"Good morning, Mr. Stein. What brings you here?" Ernest asks calmly.

"I've received word from some of my most trusted colleagues; there's been activity from one of the NUNS sub-factions, and it's disturbing." Toland says, his expression unchanging.

"And it's important enough to bring it up right after all this." Ernest says, neither happy nor unhappy.

"A large massing of NUNS warships and carriers has been reported near Terasa." Toland says.

"This is over the new Valkyrie schematic, isn't it?" Ernest assumes.

"My colleagues and I think so. It seems they want to guarantee that they'll have the schematics for it. Their destination is most likely Al Shahal; fortunately we have an advantage over them."

"Which is?"

"They may know the location of my home, but they do not know where to look, or what to look for. I do." Toland says with a grim smile.

"Okay, aside from the resting period our men and women need, when will they most likely depart/reach Al Shahal?"

"The earliest they'll depart is four days from now, latest is twelve days. It's gonna take them at least two days to fold their entire fleet. Given the current status of the Elysion, avoiding a direct engagement is a top priority, I assume?"

"That, it is. Listen, we're going to have to wait for everyone to rest before we discuss this further, but rest assured we will pursue this. I have a gut feeling we're going to need this Valkyrie in the future."

"That would make two of us, Captain." Toland says as he turns around.

* * *

Alright guys, sorry about the long wait, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, I am proofing my story for any plot holes (haven't found any yet, if you've noticed something, please say something) and making sure I haven't been miswording or incorrectly describing anything. Anyways, enjoy this even longer chapter and remember that your feedback is always appreciated.


	16. Chapter 16

I made a small change to chapter 15, although the main story hasn't changed a whole lot. I apologize for not posting in a long time, I've been hospitalized for a while now and was discharged a couple weeks ago. For those of you that stayed with the story, thank you and congratulations, you guys are the best. Enjoy!

* * *

 _Six hours later, the male dorm_

Hayate muttered a near silent swear as he heard his alarm go off. He was about to get up when he realized there was a weight on his chest. Smiling, he literally whacked the alarm until it stopped beeping and wrapped an arm around the singer snuggled around his chest. She looked up and gave him a sleepy smile.

"Uwaaa, mornin' Hayate..." Freyja sleepily yawned.

"It's noon, and I didn't say you could get out of bed yet." Hayate smirks as he gently tugs Freyja close to his face, earning a soft moan of approval from her.

"You're not mad I snuck into your room?" Freyja says as she snuggles close to Hayate, her mouth right next to his neck.

"Why do you think I left the door unlocked?" Hayate chuckles slyly.

Freyja wraps her arms around Hayate's neck, her emerald eyes narrowed slightly as she purrs. "Ohhh, so you wanted me here, didn't you?"

"Yes, and you're not leaving until I say you can." Hayate says. Before Freyja can react, he flips over her, placing the Windermerean singer under him with her arms still around his neck. He squeezes her hips with one hand while pulling her torso closer to him with the other, and finishing with a solid placement of his lips over hers. Freyja's rune twinkled as her eyes widened. She immediately melted into the maneuver, digging her hands into his azure hair whilst moaning happily. Hayate applied a slight amount more pressure to Freyja's hips, causing the singer to gasp for air. Hayate then began kissing her neck, gently nibbling on her right, sending shivers up her spine.

" _~Mmmm, Hayateeee..."_ Freyja moans as Hayate applies a slightly increasing amount of pressure on both her neck and back.

"You're so cute, _Freyja_." Hayate whispers in Freyja's ear. She turns to look at him as he gently presses his forehead against hers.

They kissed passionately, their bodies as close together as physically possible. For a while, it seemed like it would last forever. Until someone knocked on the door.

"Hayate, get up or we're coming in." Messer's and Arad's voice sound through the door.

Instinctively, Freyja jumped, pushing Hayate off to her right. Unfortunately, two things were in play: Hayate had rolled the two of them to the edge of the bed when he pinned Freyja, and Freyja still had an arm locked around Hayate she pushed him. The result was Hayate landing head first on the floor of his room, with Freyja following suit simultaneously. The first thing Arad and Messer saw when they entered Hayate's room was a pair of pink striped panties sticking in the air. Her shorts had slipped downwards while they fell, but her legs were still on the bed, unlike Hayate's. Her head was face-down on Hayate's chest, who was looking up when the two senior pilots entered. Hayate looked up and saw the two pilots gaping at him before turning and seeing Freyja's exposed undergarments. She was still dizzy, so she tried to move, inadvertently shaking her hips. Hayate turned to look at the two senior pilots with a face that unnerved even Messer.

"Oi, what do you think you're looking at?" Hayate's voice sounded like a demon at that moment.

The two senior pilots immediately turn their backs.

"W-we're sorry." Arad mutters, obviously uncomfortable.

"W-we'll give you a minute." Messer mutters in the same tone.

They close the door and Hayate looks at Freyja.

The latter looks up at him. "What happened?"

Hayate sighs. "Let's just get changed. Did you bring clothes with you?"

She looks to her left. "Of course I did. I'm not gonna wear just pajamas around you."

"Well, at least you're wearing a nice pair of panties." Hayate mutters, smiling as he looks at the beauty displayed before him. Freyja quickly realized her shorts were around her knees and her face turned 10 different shades of red. Before she could say anything, Hayate kissed her briefly.

"This stays between you, me, and the bed." His voice is firm yet joking.

Freyja's blush deepens. "D-don't try anything else, I mean it!"

Outside, Arad chuckles to himself softly as Chuck walks over. "What's going on?"

"Just the mating of two jellyfish that are meant to be together." Arad replies nonchalantly.

"Mating-" Chuck asks, his eyes bulging at the door behind the senior pilot. "You-did they-?-"

"No, they didn't do anything of the sort." Messer replies. "Yet."

"Yet?" Chuck asks incredulously.

"It's not like it wasn't coming." Arad says nonchalantly.

The three pilots look at each other, their silent conversation obvious to all. A few minutes later, the door opens. Freyja walks out first, wearing her usual Chaos uniform. Hayate walks out next, his appearance noticeably different than before. While his hair didn't change, the way he wore his uniform did. There was a lack of a teal hoodie under his Chaos jacket, only a dark blue shirt; his sleeves and pants were rolled all the way down, and instead of tennis shoes, he was wearing grey boots that were slightly darker than his pants. He closed the door behind him before turning to the pilots standing near his door. They were inspecting him with mixed expressions.

"What? If you're gonna grill me for having Freyja in my room, do it now or forever hold your peace." Hayate says, looking at the pilots, focusing more on Messer.

"Hayate, I told you I snuck into your room." Freyja says, mild concern in her voice.

"It doesn't matter; I'm not gonna let you take the heat for this." Hayate starts. His voice turns darker as he narrows his eyes at his senior pilots. "More importantly, you didn't see anything."

Both pilots take the hint.

"Understood."

"Just don't go crazy. Not now, anyway."

"Fair enough."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, at the girls' dorm._

Mirage and the other girls all woke up at around the same time, meeting each other in the living area of their dorm. The first thing that they noticed was that Freyja, who normally got up earlier than everyone else, was nowhere to be found. Obviously, they checked her room, then the restroom, and for some reason, the deck outside, all of which proved fruitless.

"Where do you think she went?" Mirage asks the group.

"You don't think she was kidnapped?" Yui asks, a hand on her chin.

"No, if someone wanted to capture one of us, they'd probably capture me." Kaname says flatly.

"Why is that?" Kiriko asks.

"I have administrative access to Chaos' classified information second only to Captain Ernest's. For this branch, anyway." Kaname replies.

"So she wasn't taken." Mirage confirms. "Knowing her, she probably snuck off to sleep with Hayate."

Makina sighs. "Well, Haya-Haya's a good guy, and Freyja's head over heels for him, so there's not really a problem here, is there?"

"As long as he doesn't get her pregnant." Reina nonchalantly says.

"Reina!" Kaname starts to scold.

"Look, isn't Freyja technically of age by Windermerean standards? If anything, Hayate's the underaged one in the relationship; you said it yourself." Reina says.

"That was supposed to be a joke; I honestly think it's too early for them to be having sex." Kaname rubs her temples.

"It's not like you can stop them, at least it was Freyja sneaking into the male dorms instead of Hayate sneaking into the female dorms." Mirage points out.

"I suppose that's true." Kaname admits.

"Should we get going now?" Yui asks, checking her watch.

"Do you guys need to change?" Makina asks the two ISDF pilots.

"All we have is the clothes your lent us and our pilot suits, so I don't believe we do-" Yui starts.

A knock on the door interrupts them. Mirage, nearest to the door, walks over and opens it. A woman and a man, the latter of which standing out the most, are standing near the entrance. The man is as tall as Messer, but is three times bulkier than him, with blonde trimmed hair. His eyes are a sharp blue. The woman is about the same size as Mirage, her body incredibly similar to hers. She has brown hair that reaches her shoulders, and eyes that match her hair. They are both wearing uniforms that were silver and red, similar to the trims of the Chronos squadrons that assisted them earlier. She is holding a duffel bag that doesn't appear to have much in it. She looks at Mirage, who looks between the two.

The woman speaks first. "Hello, are Captains Takamura and Masaki here?"

Mirage nods. "Yes, who are you two?"

"I am Second Lieutenant Yuki Takamura, and he is First Lieutenant Ein Schwernz." Yuki motions to the man standing behind her.

"Pleased to meet you." Ein says curtly in a flat tone.

"Don't mind him, he just has a problem with looking at women in anything other than a uniform." Yuki points a thumb at Ein.

"I don't normally view women in their sleepwear, so forgive me for being somewhat mindful of myself." Ein replies, clearly annoyed.

"That's fine, what is your business with the two Captains?" Mirage asks right as Yui walks up behind her.

"Ah, Yuki-chan. What are you doing here?" Yui says, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Mirage almost immediately noticed her hair being the exact same shade of brown as the Lieutenant standing in front of her.

"W-why're you calling me by my first name, Captain?" Yuki stutters.

Yui smiles at Yuki. "Why wouldn't I call my cute little sister by her first name?"

Yuki frowns. "Wh-whatever, I brought you and Captain Masaki your field uniforms. Colonel said you two should at least look presentable in front of Chaos' leadership."

"Ah, so that's what he was worried about. Thanks." Yui says as she takes the bag from Yuki.

Kiriko leans forward to look at the mountain of muscle behind Yuki. "Ein? Is that you?"

Ein looks downward at the silver-haired pilot. "Yes, it's me, Captain Masaki." His face is monotone, but his tone is light.

"You don't have to address me so formally, Ein. Not here, anyway; as far as I know, everyone around here isn't that strict." Kiriko gives Ein a happy smile.

"Understood, Kiriko." Ein only managed a small smile, but it seemed normal for him.

"Anyway, we'll get changed; I assume you're here to debrief Captain Ernest with the two of us?" Yui says.

"Yes, we were; Ein was going to go to the male's dorm and escort Delta Platoon, but I was told First Lieutenant Messer was staying with them." Yuki says.

"You know Messer?" Mirage asks.

"Sort of. Lieutenant Messer was something of a legend way back when-" Yuki opens her mouth to say more, but Yui stops her.

"We should probably get changed; you're still in your nightgown, Mirage."

Mirage looked down, turning red as she did so. "P-please excuse me."

She quickly turns and walks away. During the time they were talking, Kaname and the rest of Walkure had gotten changed into their respective Chaos uniforms. Kaname walks to the door and looks at the two other ISDF members standing near the door.

"You two can come in, you know. You don't have to stand outside." Kaname says with a light smile.

Yuki nods and proceeds to walk inside, but Ein remains firmly planted where he is.

"I do not mind waiting here; please do not mind me-" Ein starts as Makina walks over to him and takes his hand.

"It's fine, we don't mind you being inside. Plus, it'd be less awkward if you were inside than standing outside of our dorm." Makina chimes at him, leading him inside.

Ein seemed rather uncomfortable being inside. "I, uh..." He looks around, trying look anywhere but Makina until the pink-haired singer tugs at him, causing him to look directly at her. His eyes widen as focuses on her and her ample, exposed chest. He quickly catches himself, stiffening as his head snaps straight forward.

Makina giggles softly. "Hehh, what's the matter, Ein?"

Ein gently but firmly yanks his hand free from Makina's. "Nothing, I just don't feel entirely comfortable being in your living areas."

Makina tilts her head. "We don't mind, Ein. It's not like you're bad looking anyway;" She gives him a smile that makes him stiffen. "You're pretty good looking."

Reina smirks. "I agree."

"You ladies are a well-known singer group, correct?"

Makina nods, now genuinely curious.

"Do the locals know where you all live?" Ein asks.

"They do, why is that relevant?" Reina asks, not knowing where this is going.

"How do you think they would react if they saw a man like myself standing outside your door, much less walking inside at this time of day?" Ein asks, a nervous sweat on his forehead.

The realization hits all of the singers and pilots simultaneously. Right as they realize it, Yui and Kiriko walk out of the rooms they slept in for the night, wearing their ISDF uniforms.

Yui looks at all of them, who are all staring awkwardly into space. "What's wrong guys?"

"I think they're spaced out." Kiriko says flatly.

"I can see that, but all of them?" Yui says, raising an eyebrow at everyone.

At that moment, there was a series of loud knocks on the door, followed by what sounded like ten different people shouting. The noises snap everyone out of their stupors and Ein instantly snaps his head toward the door. His expression was equivalent to someone who realized they were caught in public with their pants down. He immediately looks around for an exit that wasn't the front door.

"Don't bother, Ein. The only other exit is through the window, and that leads straight to the ocean." Kaname sighs.

"You mean there's no other exits in your living areas?" Ein asks.

"Not ones where you can walk out unseen." Reina says.

"And on top of that, we're definitely going to attract unwanted attention." Yuki mutters.

"Well, unless you four want to go for a swim, I don't think there's any other way out of this. We'll at least go through one of the side doors, but we're going to get seen either way." Kaname says with finality.

"I guess it's a good thing you four studied and executed infiltration missions; maybe you can teach them a thing or two." Mirage says as she peeks out one of the shaded windows. "I see six different news vans, twelve pairs of cameramen and reporters, and a couple drones."

"Wait, aren't you guys used to attention?" Yui asks.

"We are, but having a third party here, in our dorms, right after an attack that crippled the Elysion, isn't going to be a fun situation to talk ourselves out of; I'd rather avoid it at all costs." Kaname says.

Right as she finished talking, her phone went off. She picked up her phone.

"Hello, Arad? What? Yes, I am aware." She looks around at the group. "I think we could use a hand getting out. Why, do you have something in mind?"

Her eyes widen. "Y-you're not serious, are you? No, there's not a problem, but-" Kaname sighs. "Alright, fine; for the record, though, I am not going to explain this to the Captain or the other leaders until you've said your bit."

"What was that all about?" Mirage asks.

"It looks like the Captain knows about our current situation, and so do your commanding officers." Kaname says to the group.

"So, what's our course of action?" Yuki asks.

"Apparently, they've sent us a ride to the Elysion; it should be here in ten minutes." Kaname replies.

"What about Freyja and the guys?" Kiriko asks.

"Arad said not to worry about them; I don't know why."

"What about Mikumo and the other man with her?" Yui asks.

"Other man?" Yuki turns to her sister.

"Shiro Okumura; he's the newest member of Delta Platoon, and he's Mikumo's assigned bodyguard." Kaname explains.

"Don't all members of Delta Platoon act as bodyguards for Walkure?" Ein asks.

"Technically, that is the case, but primarily for operations and concerts; unlike us, Shiro's first role is as Mikumo's bodyguard, then as a pilot. For the rest of us, it pretty much goes the other way around." Mirage states.

"So he's a skilled ground combatant?" Yuki asks.

The members of Walkure and Mirage all look between each other.

"That's an understatement." Reina says flatly.

"A very deep one, at that." Makina adds.

"He's something else entirely." Mirage says.

"What does that mean?" Ein asks.

"Put it this way," Kaname says. "Shiro's capable of doing things I didn't think were possible; on top of that, his flying skill is comparable to any member of Delta Platoon, despite a number of things."

"Such as?" Yuki asks.

"He's only been flying for a month or two." Mirage says flatly.

The four ISDF members look at each other with mixed expressions.

"Is that really the case?" Kiriko asks.

"If you don't believe us, we can pull the video logs from the first time we threw him into a Variable Fighter and had him fight Chuck, Hayate, and Mirage." Reina says.

"Wait, you put a man who had never flown a Variable Fighter before into one and had him participate in a mock aerial battle?" Yui asks incredulously.

"That pretty much sums it up." Mirage states.

"And how did it go? Did you at least beat him?" Yuki asks, her eyes slightly wide.

Mirage squeezes her elbow while looking down. "Not at all."

The four ISDF members gape at her.

"What do you mean, the three of you couldn't take him down?" Ein asks, completely shocked.

"His flight patterns were incredibly erratic at the start, as expected; however, it only took him five or so minutes to figure out how to fly a Nightmare, and we were caught with our pants down." Mirage admits. "He managed to take out Chuck, and Hayate and I tried to end the mock battle, but he fought us to a draw. I didn't think it was possible, but he proved that it's possible to learn how to fly a Variable Fighter in ten or so minutes, while flying, might I add."

"This guy sounds insane." Ein mutters.

"In terms of skill and ability, he is." Kaname says. "Personality-wise, he's rather calm and collected. He's pretty similar to Messer in that they're pretty duty-orientated, but Shiro seems more, how should I put it, _analytical_."

"Analytical?" Kiriko tilts her head.

"Yeah, Shiro always thinks before doing anything, it just doesn't seem that way sometimes because he thinks very quickly; that or he's really good at making things up on the go." Makina notes.

"I'm much more inclined to believe the former; when he explained his thought process to us over how he learned how to fly a Variable Fighter, it all made sense. However, I know for a fact the information he had to process would've taken a normal person much longer than he did." Mirage states.

"This is one interesting man you've managed to hire. What did he ask for when you hired him? Any special conditions?" Yui asks.

"Not that we know of." Reina says.

"There was one thing I overheard Shiro talking about with the Captain." Mirage says. "They were discussing his salary and Shiro said he didn't care how much he was paid; in fact, he said he figured out that we were in financial straits, so he said he didn't mind being paid lower than what a normal captain earns."

"Was there anything else to this?" Kaname and Yui ask at the same time.

Mirage looks between the two women before replying. "The only other thing he added was that he received enough pay to be able to purchase food and supplies weekly. Other than that, I didn't hear anything else."

"So he's something of a minimalist when it comes to living standards." Ein says.

"It would appear so. His room on the Elysion consists of nothing but his bed, a bedside dresser, and his mobile armory, apparently." Kaname says.

"Mobile armory?" Yuki asks.

"Yeah, that's where he keeps all of his equipment and weapons." Mirage adds.

"If I didn't see him fly in combat, I doubt I'd be able to believe any of what you all just described to me." Kiriko says as she turns her head towards the door. "Has anyone else noticed that the voices beyond the door are gone?"

Everyone stopped and turned toward the door. It had gotten quiet while they were talking, and no one had noticed until now.

"Hey, you don't think-" Makina starts, but the growl of engines cuts her off.

At that moment, Kaname's cell phone went off. "Hello? Arad? Yes, we're ready. Got it, we're on our way now."

"What just happened?" Mirage asks.

"We have a ride to the Elysion." Kaname says as she walks toward the door. The rest of the group follows her, and upon opening the door, everyone saw that the news trucks were still sitting nearby, but the reporters were all standing by their respective vehicles. The reason why soon became obvious; there was a squadron of Kairos hovering nearby in Gerwalk mode. As they walked out, a shuttle flew close by before stopping a few meters in front of them. The rear door opened to reveal Shiro and Mikumo; the latter was wearing her Chaos clothes, while Shiro had apparently received his. He had on a Chaos jacket, but aside from that, the gray pants and black boots seemed perfectly normal on him. He didn't have his swords on his person, but Walkure and Mirage assumed they were nearby. As the group approached the two, Shiro turned his head towards them, inspecting the four new members with them. The four ISDF members gazed at Shiro, each one of them withholding their respective thoughts on the stoic bodyguard.

Shiro looked at Kaname as she neared. "Hello, Kaname. I trust you had no issues aside from them?" He glances at the group of media vehicles.

Kaname put a hand on her hips. "No, we didn't; I just don't know why all this was necessary." She motions to the hovering Kairos squadron and the shuttle.

Shiro sticks his hands in his pockets. "I do not understand either; anyway, you can introduce your new companions to us during that time."

Kaname nods. "Alright." She then turns to the group. "Everyone, we're getting on. We should be back at the Elysion within ten or so minutes."

Everyone acknowledged that and boarded the shuttle. As the shuttle took off, the Kairos squadron hovered nearby until it gained speed, then switched to Fighter mode. While they were taking off, Kaname introduced the four ISDF members to Shiro and Mikumo, and vice versa. Once they reached a suitable altitude, Shiro walked over to a locker-like storage unit and pulled out two swords, which were in their scabbards. He placed them next to his seat, fully aware of the curious looks he was getting from the four ISDF members. After a minute or so, he looked at Yui and Yuki, both of whom were being rather obvious about their curiosity.

"Is there something you two would like to ask me?" Shiro says blankly.

The Takamura sisters look at each other, then at their counterparts sitting across from them.

Yui speaks first. "Yes there is; I apologize for being rude, I could not help but wonder about your swords."

"What is it that you would like to know?"

She pauses for a moment before answering. "Are swords your primary weapon of choice when going into an engagement?"

Shiro answers immediately. "Generally, yes; I understand that swords are not always ideal, but swords are weapons I feel most comfortable with."

"Then, how proficient are you with firearms?" Yuki tags Shiro with another question immediately.

"Depending on the firearm, I assume I am comparable to veteran marksmen and/or riflemen." Shiro says.

"And that level of proficiency is constant across all firearms?" Ein jumps in.

"Somewhat; I am most proficient with sub-machineguns, assault rifles, and sidearms. I am moderately adept at using heavier machine guns and sniper rifles, however, they would not be my first choice of firearm, if I had a choice."

"So you're saying you're just as good with a pistol as you are with an assault rifle?" Makina turns her head towards Shiro.

"That is correct; I admit, you all have only seen me use sidearms, so for now, you will have to take my word for what it is."

"You don't have to prove anything to us, Shiro; those of us who saw you fight know how skilled you are." Mikumo says, a smile on her face.

Shiro looks at Mikumo, turning his head slightly. "I know that, but it's for the best that I keep working to improve; as our adversaries change, so must I." He then gives her a small smile. "Besides, you can't be the only interesting one here."

Mikumo's cheeks flush and she looks down, her face shadowed slightly by her flowing violet hair. She muttered something inaudible as she turned towards the window.

"Everyone, we'll be landing on the Aether in two minutes!" The pilot calls from the cockpit.

"Captain Takamura, just so we can hurry along the formalities, who is your commanding officer? I didn't catch his name when Arad spoke with me last time." Kaname looks at Yui.

Yui shifts her eyes downward slightly, gently tugging at her collar. "That would be Lieutenant Colonel Ryu Takamura."

"Wait, Takamura? Is he your-" Makina trails off at seeing Yuki's reaction.

Yuki gulps nervously. "Yes, he is our father."

"He's the kind to give them the fatherly brand of tough love." Kiriko says blankly.

"He's almost as hard on them physically as he is me." Ein adds.

"You didn't seem nervous when Second Lieutenant Takamura mentioned him earlier; what's the matter?" Reina looks at the tense Takamura sisters.

"That was before we realized he would be the one to talk to your leader." They both say in sync.

"Don't worry about it too much, what's the worst that could happen?" Mikumo asks the two sisters.

"Never say that." Yuki groans.

"I can think of a number of things that can fall under worst case scenarios." Yui says in a semi-depressed tone.

"I don't believe your father would do anything to reprimand you two; I am certain that he would place his duty as a high-ranked officer over his duty as a father while working. On top of that, he would most likely act as a father when the rest of us aren't around; probably to keep up a professional appearance, I assume." Shiro notes.

"Well, I suppose that's true." Yui says as they land.

"Seriously, don't worry about it too much." Kaname tells the two sisters.

The bay doors open as everyone gets up and walks toward the door. Mikumo turns and sees Shiro strapping his swords to his back. She notices that his face is noticeably darker than when just a minute ago. She walks up to her bodyguard, leaning towards him.

"What's wrong, Shiro?" Mikumo tilts her head slightly.

Shiro snaps out of his trance and focuses on the violet-haired singer. "Nothing, I was just thinking about the people we are about to meet."

Mikumo gives him a flat stare. "That's not all you were thinking. What's bothering you?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now isn't the best time; we have things to do." Shiro says, rolling his shoulders.

Mikumo clearly didn't seem satisfied with his answer, but she simply turned and walked out of the shuttle, promptly followed by Shiro. They all began walking to the bridge, unaware of the ferocious battle that was soon to take place above.

* * *

 _The bridge of the Elysion_

Ernest looked at the two officers standing before him, inspecting them carefully. One of them was a well-built, middle aged man with black eyes and brown hair. Standing next to him was an equally tall, platinum-haired woman with orange eyes and generous curves.

"Hello, I am Captain Ernest Johnson. I apologize for any inconveniences you may have had to deal with on your way here, this ship has certainly seen better days." Ernest says politely.

The male officer nods. "There was no issue at all, Captain. I am Lieutenant Colonel Ryu Takamura, and this is my second in command, Major Illya Barchenowa." Ryu motions toward the Major.

"Pleasure to meet you, Captain." Illya bows lightly.

"There's no need to be so formal. I appreciate you two coming down here to talk with us, in addition to two of your squad leaders staying with us. While we wait for everyone else to arrive, would it be okay if I asked you two a few questions?" Ernest asks, scanning their reactions.

Ryu nods. "As long as they aren't over sensitive material, I see no problem with this; in return, I would also like to ask you some questions, under the same conditions, of course."

"Agreed. Then, may I go first?"

"Of course."

"What is your organization, and what is it's purpose?"

"We come from an organization known as the Interstellar Defense Force, which is one of three factions that fractured from the NUNS. As of now, our objective is to prevent the spread of chaos and violence that the Apex of Humanity is causing." Ryu explains.

"Is there anything you can tell me about Apex of Humanity right now?" Ernest asks.

"We could tell you the basics, but I think it would be best to wait until everyone else is gathered." Ryu says.

"And your objective means to cover the entire universe?" Ernest asks, an eyebrow raised.

"We understand that our objective sounds rather childish or overly optimistic, but we remain steadfast in our goals. Naturally, our goals can change, but everyone in the ISDF signed up knowing what could happen and what is at stake here." Illya says, her eyes showing a glint of emotion.

"I see. From what I understand, the ISDF is more capable, militarily, than Chaos is, correct?" Ernest asks, a hand on his chin.

"That is correct. I think you know where we are going with this." Ryu says.

"You want to form an alliance between the ISDF and Chaos, given that your forces are more likely to be better suited to combat, and Chaos being more economically and logistically well-versed." Ernest says.

"Naturally, we understand that you are not the highest position in the organization, but given your recent combat record, on top of your people's experience, we believe that your word has significant sway in the higher ups." Illya notes.

"That is most likely true. Given the way the universe is right now, I'm fairly certain that Chaos has financial and political interests at stake. While I believe that is somewhat questionable, I do believe they would be interested in a partnership."

"As long as there is a modest possibility of our two organizations working together, we will provide support; it seems you could use some now more than ever." Ryu says.

"I do not wish to impose on you guys; you have already helped us out considerably. As long as you understand that we cannot repay you anytime soon, you are free to do as you wish." Ernest turns as Mizuki walks up to him.

"Captain, there's a communication request coming from HQ. They're asking for you specifically." Mizuki tells the captain.

"I assume it can't wait?" Ernest looks down on the green-haired bridge operator.

"They said it was urgent."

Ernest exhales softly before turning to the two ISDF officers. "I apologize for the interruption, but apparently this is rather important for me." He turns to Mizuki. "Are you doing anything of importance right now?"

"Not right now. The supplies from our reserves are still coming in, but most of the maintenance crews agree we should focus on repairing and restocking the Aether and the Hemera. As for ordinance, we still have a decent supply, but spare parts are starting to run low. Also, Delta Platoon, Walkure, and four ISDF pilots are on their way here now, they should be here soon."

"At least that's been taken care of. Okay, unless you think something may come up, can you answer any questions that these two may have? I will try to make it brief."

"Yes sir." Mizuki quickly salutes before turning to the two ISDF officers. "Was there anything else the two of you would like to ask?" Mizuki smiles politely at the two officers.

Ryu puts a hand on his chin briefly. "Yes, there was. If I understand this correctly, there was a failed operation to implant devices within Mikumo Guynemer, and the man tasked with executing this was Toland Stein. Is he here, by any chance?"

Mizuki pauses briefly. "I'm not sure if I'm qualified to answer that; may I ask what your relation to him is or what you know him for?"

Illya frowns. "He was a close friend of ours. I couldn't stop him from being sent on that operation, nor could I be there with him. I would at least like to know if he is alive or not."

"You can tell them, Mizuki." Toland says from behind them.

"Toland?" Illya turns toward the smiling engineer.

"Hello, Illya. I apo-" Toland starts before Illya cuts him off with a hug. It lasts a solid minute before Illya lets him go, an embarrassed look on her face.

"I-I apologize, sir. I let-" Illya starts before Ryu stops her with the raise of his hand.

"It's alright, Barchenowa. I was really worried for Toland as well. I'm sure you made sure of that." Ryu smiles at Illya and Toland. "Now then, Toland. What have you been up to the past four weeks?"

Toland smiles lightly as he sticks a hand in his pocket, pulling out an expandable data pad. "Well, I've decided to take up a new job, in case you couldn't tell."

"What, we weren't paying you enough?" Ryu chides lightly.

"Well, I certainly didn't think you guys would muster the guts to separate from the bigwigs back at old HQ, and they kinda screwed me." Toland's face darkens considerably. "They murdered Kim, John, and Rose."

The two ISDF officers freeze, their shock evident.

"What?" Ryu's eyebrows arc before narrowing.

Illya puts a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. "N-no..."

"We'll try to recover the bodies-" Ryu starts.

"You don't have to do that." Toland explains. "My new employers graciously recovered their bodies and their last messages to me already. The only thing left to recover is a particular Valkyrie blueprint that I'm sure you're both aware of." Toland gives a small smile.

"I take it you know who did it?" Illya asks, grimacing.

"We can discuss it when everyone else gets here, but if you know the name Ob Neghaus, I need not say anything else." Toland says, turning to the returning captain.

Ignoring the deep scowls from the two ISDF officers, Ernest looks down at Toland. "I see that you've recovered, Mr. Stein. I take it you're interested in the meeting we're about to have?"

"Indeed, I am, though I suppose it helps that the two liaisons from the ISDF happen to be close friends of mine." Toland says as he sticks his hands in his pockets.

"Is that so?" Ernest asks, giving the two ISDF officers a mildly surprised look. "If that's the case, then I assume you've already informed of the events of late?"

"Just the notable ones." Toland says flatly.

The door behind them opens, revealing the group of pilots and singers.

"Good, everyone's here. Everyone, I realize that it's a bit cramped in here, but the ship has lost most of its power. Because of that, I can only explain things in detail here, so please bear with me." Ernest says as he walks over to his chair.

"Now, then. Shall we start?" Ryu says, looking at the large group of pilots and singers before him.

"I think it is matter of where we should start. Might I suggest a few introductions?" Arad says with his usual smile, stepping forward slightly.

"Indeed." Ryu says, returning the smile to Arad. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Ryu Takamura, founder and commander of the ISDF Alpha Company Elites, or ACEs." He motions to Illya. "She is Major Illya Barchenowa, my second-in-command."

"It is nice to meet you all." Illya says politely. "The four pilots here are from the ACEs; Captain Yui Takamura and Captain Kiriko Masaki are squad leaders for Alpha Squad and Bravo Squad, respectively. Second Lieutenant Yuki Takamura is Captain Yui's second-in-command for Alpha squad; First Lieutenant Ein Schwernz is Captain Masaki's second-in-command for Bravo squad." She looks at the four ISDF pilots among Walkure and Delta Platoon. "I see you four have become acquainted with Walkure. Would you care to introduce them to us?"

"Of course, Major." Yui says. She motions to Walkure. "This is Kaname Buccaneer, Walkure's manager. She is Reina Prowler, an extremely skilled hacker and information specialist. Makina Nakajima, an equally skilled mechanic. I didn't actually get the chance to meet Freyja or Mikumo, but based off what the other three told me, they're the most powerful singers of Walkure."

"What do you mean by that?" Illya raises an eyebrow slightly.

"You understand that Walkure performs concerts to reduce and cure Var infections, correct, Major?" Kiriko asks.

"Yes, that much I understand."

"Their ability to cure Var Syndrome stems from their ability to generate fold waves from their singing; Mikumo Guynemer and Freyja Wion are capable of generating fold waves significantly higher than Kaname, Makina or Reina." Yui explains.

"That brings up something I don't understand; if their singing generates fold waves, why is it that they perform concerts in dangerous locations instead of recording and broadcasting their songs?" Ryu interjects.

"We did try that, early in Walkure's career; it turns out that the recording isn't capable of generating fold waves because the audio from said recordings don't retain the biological fold energy that our voices project, making so that we have to perform live to get results." Kaname explains.

"Pardon me, but we should finish our introductions and get to the discussion at hand; I have information that I think everyone would find important." Ernest says politely.

"No problem, Captain." Arad responds. "I'm Captain Arad Molders, Delta Platoon leader. I've been working with Walkure since their beginning. As Walkure's dedicated support, we defend them during their concerts from whatever threats arise, and we fly modified Kairos' called Siegfrieds, optimized for supporting Walkure. Of course, we are capable of holding our own, if not, dominating an aerial battle."

"I'm First Lieutenant Mirage Fallyna Jenius. I'm Captain Arad's second-in-command." Mirage says with a neutral expression.

"I'm First Lieutenant Chuck Mustang, Delta Platoon's recon pilot." Chuck says, his usual smile on his face.

"I'm Second Lieutenant Hayate Immelman; I joined Delta Platoon just before the outbreak of the Windermerean war." Hayate glances at Messer, who doesn't meet his gaze.

"It is good to meet all of you; now that introductions are out of the way, I suppose it's time to move on to what we're here for." Ryu says.

"Indeed. The reason why we've gathered here is to discuss our next move." Ernest continues.

"Our?" Arad questions.

"I thought we were going to discuss the terms of our alliance." Ryu looks at the Zentradi captain.

"We were, but it so turns out that Headquarters and some of your higher-ups have agreed to an alliance between our organizations; they are finalizing and discussing the details as we speak." Ernest looks at the two ISDF COs.

"They sure work quickly, don't they?" Ryu sighs.

"It appears that way." Ernest nods. "Anyway, from here on outwards, we're going to be working together, so let's get along as we work."

"Does anyone have any objections?" Illya turns to face everyone else in the room.

Mirage raised her hand.

Illya focused on her. "Yes, Lieutenant Jenius?"

"This isn't so much an objection as a question."

"Go ahead."

Mirage looks at Messer, who doesn't meet her gaze like Hayate. "What is his purpose, or rather, his affiliation?"

Ryu and Illya glance at each other, noticeable frowns on their faces.

"As much as we would like to brush off that question, we know that we can't avoid it forever." Illya says matter-of-factly.

"Look, we'll explain everything later; you have my word, for what it's worth." Ryu promises.

"As long as we get our answers in a timely manner." Chuck was uncharacteristically serious.

"Is there anything else anyone would like to ask?" Illya looks at Delta Platoon and Walkure.

Seeing as no one said anything, in spite of some skeptical faces, Ryu continues. "Well then, shall we move forward?"

"Sounds good. Where should we start?" Arad looks around at the faces in the room.

"I think the best place to start would be identifying our potential and current adversaries." Toland points out.

"I agree." Ryu looks at Toland. "I assume that you have something of a lead?"

"Yes, I do." Toland says as he walks towards the central console with the holographic map. "I've made good use of the resources and time available to me these past few days."

"Really? How so?" Illya focuses on the array of planets appearing on the holo map as Toland types.

"Well, because Captain Ernest was so gracious enough to grant me relatively high clearance to access Chaos information networks, based on the movement of resources, ships, people I was able to get a decent picture of who our enemies are, and where their areas of influence are."

This resulted in more than a few raised eyebrows, because as Toland finished typing, four different globular clusters, one being their current cluster, appeared on the holo map. The other three globular clusters had at least 5 planets each, with the last one containing 13 planets, moons excluded. Areas of the globular clusters were tinted varying intensities of red to denote level of hostile resistance. Almost everyone paled at the sight of the largest globular cluster. Out of the 13 planets, 9 of them were a sharp crimson; the other four were just a little lighter. The second largest globular cluster, with 10 planets was completely white, and the last globular cluster, with just 5 planets, was tinted a deep blue.

"I hope we have more allies than this, otherwise we're in deep trouble." Ernest says, a scowl on his face.

"This is incomplete intel, but I share your concern, Captain. The reason I put up these particular sectors is because they are the closest to our current one."

"So that explains why we've been under relentless assault." Kaname looks at the holo map.

"Yes, and it seems they're not done yet." Toland says.

"Who even are these guys? I can't figure them out." Arad looks between Toland and Ryu.

"Apex of Humanity: They're extremely wealthy, extremely powerful, extremely aggressive. They have a rather simple take on the mass explosion of violent Var-related incidents." Ryu looks at Walkure with a small frown. "If there aren't any people who are susceptible to Var attacks, then there wouldn't be any Var-related incidents."

"You mean-" Freyja's eyes widen.

"Yes, they've essentially began what can be considered a purge of all people who have fold bacteria; but that's not even the worst of it." Illya's eyes narrow.

Delta Platoon and Walkure alike sans Shiro frown and look at each other; the stoic bodyguard appeared to be deep in thought.

"You'd think mass genocide wouldn't go unnoticed by the public, but these guys are good at what they do." Ryu mimics Illya's facial expression.

"Perhaps a little too good." Toland mutters.

"Are you certain that they're going about killing people in such large quantities that people wouldn't notice? I can't help but find it a little far-fetched." Arad looks at the two ISDF COs.

They look at each other for a moment, then Ryu nods. Illya then pulls a medium-sized data disk out of her inside jacket pocket.

She walks over to the holo map and inserts the disk. An innumerable number of photos of people with dates and other text below them appear on the display before shifting to an order not explained. Illya takes Toland's place on the console, typing quickly for a minute. The photos rearrange, sorted by date. The least recent date was marked 7 months ago.

"What is this, Ryu?" Toland looks at his longtime friend with a concerned look on his face.

"It's a list of people who've 'disappeared'." Ryu emphasizes the last word with a hint of venom.

"I take it you don't mean they just went out for ice cream and got lost, right?" Arad asks without any sarcasm.

Ryu talks to the nearby Chaos leadership. "To be completely honest, we're not 100% sure that they've been murdering people in cold blood for their less than stellar objective, but when people start disappearing for more than two weeks on end, and almost every crime scene has bullet holes, casings, and blood spatters, it's not misguided to assume they've been killed. Problem is, we never managed to find a body, much less any evidence of what's really been going on."

"This is a list of people who have gone missing under similar or identical circumstances. They range from small children to middle-aged adults, and the only real relating factor between the incidents is the circumstances by which they went missing, and the fact that all the missing persons had an Internal Fold Bacteria Concentration, or IFBC, of 50% or higher." Illya explains.

"How was that measured? That doesn't seem like something you'd figure out with a routine checkup at the doctor's." Mirage puts a hand on her chin.

"No, it isn't, but during the Windermerean conflict, NUNS wanted a countermeasure to work against Windermere's Song of the Wind, which should tell you just how much they trust Walkure and Chaos. They began testing people on the basis of gauging which planets were prone to Var outbreaks; it actually started with their forces near the Brisingr globular cluster." Illya glances at the singers standing in the middle of the room. Toland then takes her place on the console, the information on missing persons

"Anyways, about our current standing with the nearby globular clusters; it's not as bad as it seems." Toland begins. "It looks like the Apex of Humanity has the advantage in terms of territory, but this map doesn't show the size of planets." He says as he types on the console. The hostile 13 planet cluster horizontally aligns with the friendly 5 planet cluster, and as Toland finishes typing, the two clusters appear to take up the same amount of space when put side by side, but the largest planet in the hostile cluster is only as large as the largest moon in the friendly cluster. The largest planet in the friendly cluster is roughly five times larger than the hostile cluster's largest planet. Every friendly planet had at least two above-average sized moons.

"Well, that makes me feel better about our current standing; now we're not totally screwed." Chuck thinks aloud.

"Lt. Mustang is right, despite this fact, we'd still be hard-pressed to fight on an even level with our adversaries if we had a head-on confrontation." Yui says as she scans the display.

"Which is why we won't, this is where you all would come in." Ryu faces Walkure. "From what I understand, you ladies and Delta Platoon have a considerable amount of experience in infiltration and intelligence gathering."

"Well, Colonel, you aren't completely off; the problem I see right now is that the applications that you are talking about would not completely fit our bill." Mikumo says to Ryu, surprising everyone in the room to an extent.

"Please explain." Ryu replies politely.

"Well, in most of our previous infiltration missions, we were working amongst a civilian population in which a group of girls, albeit disguised, would blend in normally. If that wasn't the case, we were infiltrating hostile territory in which we had to rely on not being spotted at all. Which, might I add, didn't go very well for some or all of us. If I'm understanding you correctly, we may have to infiltrate military complexes to complete our tasks; we have not done anything of the sort as far as I remember." Mikumo explains, again, surprising everyone in the room to an extent. Shiro raised an eyebrow lightly at Mikumo before reverting back to his usual stoic self.

"Ahem, Mikumo is right, the bulk of our infiltration missions were centered around investigating the Protoculture structures on the planets in this cluster, so resistance was generally light, with the exception of our operation on Voldor, where the NUNS garrison stationed there were under the control of Windermere's song of the wind and artificially-induced Var Syndrome." Kaname notes.

"I see. Well, I appreciate the clarification, I would have made a significant mistake if I treated you ladies like any other RAS group." Ryu admits.

"Now that that's out of the way, what's our first move?" Ernest looks between the group of pilots and singers.

"Well, our first moves were to gather as many solid allies as possible; like Toland and Captain Takamura mentioned, it's uncertain who's got an advantage in a fight, and I'm not to keen on finding out the hard way." Ryu says with a light scowl on his face. He regains his composure as he turns to Arad and Ernest. "I don't suppose you have anyone worth noting?"

Arad looks at Ernest, then at Delta Platoon and Walkure, then back at Ernest. "What do you think, Captain?"

"I don't think that's our call to make." Ernest looks at Arad with flat face.

"What is it?" Illya looks at Ernest and Arad.

"Well, there is still the question of what to do with the Windermereans, but I don't think they'd be too keen on fighting alongside us when we just ended a conflict with them." Ernest responds.

"If I understand them correctly, they originally fought to break free from NUNS control, right?" Illya asks the Zentradi captain.

"Correct. The recent conflict was a originally a result of the late King Gramia's attempt to restore what Windermere had lost in their fight for independence seven years prior, but when he died, his advisor, Roid, took control of Windermere's forces to fight for his personal goals." Ernest explains.

"That involved using Ms. Guynemer here as the trigger for his plan?" Ryu's gaze flickers between Mikumo and Ernest.

"Yes; there is a lot of classified information regarding Ms. Guynemer, but I'm sure you're aware of her background." Ernest subtly takes note of Ryu's gaze on Mikumo.

"Only that there isn't much to her. A certain Lady M made getting that information very difficult, so I imagine it's very dangerous information that shouldn't be tossed around lightly." Ryu notes.

"Indeed it is; please don't mistake our not giving you this information as mistrust; it simply isn't really ours to hand out." Ernest says.

"I understand completely. I was particularly curious because the entire universe heard her voice that day, and it's raised a lot of questions." Ryu exhales softly.

"To be frank, Colonel, I doubt we have many answers to the questions that exist over Ms. Guynemer; and it's not like she can answer them herself anyway." Ernest says as Mikumo looks down slightly, her facial features obscured by her hair.

"How is that so? Does she not know the extent of her abilities?" Yuki questions no one in particular.

Yui lightly smacks her younger sister. "Forgive 2nd Lt. Takamura, Captain. Like myself, she probably does not understand much about the circumstances surrounding Ms. Guynmer and was wanting to know more."

Ernest ignores Yuki's fidgeting and Ryu's stern gaze toward the former. "No problem at all, Captain. As I mentioned earlier, we do not know much, so we can only tell you what we know. You could ask Ms. Guynemer directly, but you'll have to wait for her to come back."

Everyone in the room took a moment to process this, the silence both awkward and abnormal. The sounds of neck bones popping filled the room as they turned to Mikumo's last known position filled the room.

"Geez, again?" Hayate rubs the back of his head.

"And in the middle of a debrief?" Mirage sounds exasperated.

"Is this a common occurrence?" Kiriko asks, her soft voice filling the room.

"You have no idea." Walkure and Delta Platoon, including Messer respond in total sync.

"Wait, where's Shiro?" Freyja looks toward the spot where the stoic bodyguard was standing.

While the groups were discussing where and why Mikumo and Shiro had left, Illya, Ryu, Ernest and Arad turn toward each other.

"Ms. Guynemer has had a tendency to go off on her own, most during operations. She always got results, so we've let it slide for a while now." Ernest explains to the ISDF officers.

"The truth is, we have no real way of stopping her, it's just in her nature." Arad adds.

"Isn't it the role of the superior officers to discipline their subordinates?" Illya frowns at the Delta Platoon leader and Captain.

"Barchenowa, calm down. They've been reasonable and rational since we met them, I'm sure there's a reason behind this." Ryu puts a hand on his XO's shoulder.

"About that," Toland walks toward them. "I myself haven't been told much, but judging by the After Action Reports I've read, Ms. Guynemer has often wondered off on her own, done things without permission, despite results, and acted somewhat anti-socially. Most of this suggests immaturity or an age much younger than one would expect."

Arad and Ernest glance at each other, then back at Toland.

"I guess you're not sought after for nothing, Mr. Stein." Ernest softly remarks.

"I just hope our potential adversaries aren't half as smart as he is." Arad notes.

"What is that supposed to mean, Captain? Major?" Illya looks between the two.

The two glance at each other briefly then back at the two ISDF officers.

Ernest exhales softly. "Alright, this is one piece of information that we don't really mind sharing with you three, but it still needs to stay under wraps, agreed?"

The two officers and bio-engineer nod.

"Okay, the truth is, Ms. Guynemer is some a clone of an unidentified individual using old DNA stolen from Windermere some years ago, and because of that, she's only had about three or so years of consciousness; I think you know where this is going." Ernest rattles off.

There was an awkward silence among the three.

"You don't mean...she's only three years old?" Ryu is the first to recover.

"H-how is that possible?" Illya stutters.

"I was under the impression cloning technology hadn't advanced to the point where clones would as functional as she is..." Toland trails off.

"Well, like we said, we still don't know much about her." Arad reminds the three.

"But still, she has a very potent ability, and at such a young age too." Ryu puts a hand on his chin.

"As true as that is, it is very likely she isn't aware of all her abilities, much less have control of them. That's why we're being cautious with her; she's still one of us though, so we try not to isolate her." Ernest states.

"So she's an existence that could very well be easily manipulated if we we don't ere to the side of caution." Illya notes.

"I'm afraid so. Strangely enough, the after the final battle for Ragna, she's opened up quite a bit, but after we hired Shiro, she's a lot more social and talkative, but I guess things have progressed a bit to quickly for her to change this much in so little time." Arad states.

"I take it didn't really help that we talked about her like an object or a liability, did it?" Ryu frowns slightly.

"Probably not, it also might've made her more aware of herself, which could be good or bad." Toland adds.

Not really; she's been given more choices recently than she's had her entire life, so it's had the effect of her becoming more aware of herself and the world around her. I wouldn't think her becoming more aware of herself could have any negative repercussions, but that remains to be seen." Ernest says to the group of commanding officers.

"That might be what's happening right now, now that I think about it." Toland puts a hand on his chin.

"Anyway, I suppose we should finish up while we wait for Ms. Guynemer and Captain Okumura to get back." Ernest says coolly.

"That guy's a Captain?" Illya asks incredulously.

"For all intents and purposes, it's mainly so that he can act on his own authority, pertaining to Ms. Guynemer." Arad explains.

"And that's all because of her solitary behavior." Illya huffs. "You sure have an interesting crew, Captain."

Ernest simply lowers his cap, hiding his eyes. "I believe it makes life as interesting as they are."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, two floors below the bridge deck_

Shiro turned the corner and saw Mikumo sitting against the wall with her knees pressed against her chest. Her face was shadowed by her violet hair, which, in combination to her position, made it impossible to see her face. Shiro knelt near Mikumo.

"I assume you didn't leave because you were tired?" Shiro calmly asks.

"For the record, I actually am tired." Mikumo responds without looking up.

"But that isn't the main reason, is it?" Shiro doesn't move.

"I don't get it."

"What is it you don't get?"

"How do you understand me this much?"

"I really don't understand you."

"You do enough to know where I'd be if I chose to leave at random."

"It wasn't random for you. Furthermore, you're a little more predictable than you'd think."

Mikumo looks up, a small frown on her face. "Why did you come here, Shiro?"

"I could ask the same of you, Mikumo." Shiro maintains a level gaze at Mikumo.

Mikumo exhales softly. "You know when we were...inside my mind?"

Shiro nods.

"Something's been bothering me about the whole thing. The things that happened keep flashing in my mind... I'm finding myself worrying about things I haven't considered before, and hearing them talk about me like a massive liability isn't helping."

"Mikumo, I don't intend to make you feel worse, but you should understand that, with your abilities, you pose a threat to everyone. Understandably, they're worried, however, anything they might have said was not meant to hurt or insult you. To be honest, I think this is what people call a 'reality check.'" Shiro sits next to Mikumo.

"A reality check?" Mikumo turns toward Shiro, her expression half curious, half concerned.

"It's apparently an expression for an occasion in which one is reminded of the state of things in the real world, or in this case, the universe."

"I don't get it." Mikumo frowns, her eyes lost in thought.

"Let me ask you this, Mikumo. Do you ever think about the consequences of you actions?"

"What? Of course, that's why we're having this talk now." Mikumo replies, her tone hot.

"Did you ever think about the consequences of your actions before the events that transpired in the past 48 hours?" Shiro asks, his tone betraying the fact he already knew the answer.

"Of cours-" Mikumo stops, her eyes widening. "No, I didn't..." Her thoughts flash through every decision she made. She begins to tremble, her voice as shaky as her body. "I-I didn't think about what would happen a-at all..."

She stops when she feels Shiro put an hand on her shoulder, the warmth breaking her train of anxious thoughts. She looks down, her eyes brimming with tears.

"H-how much danger have I put them in because of my actions? Put you in?" She gasps softly when Shiro puts his hand on her head. She looks up at him, small tears in her eyes and pink dusting her cheeks.

Shiro swallowed nervously. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm used to being in danger, so-" Shiro stiffens when Mikumo practically jumps on him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Tell me, Shiro. Am I a burden to you? To everyone else?" Mikumo's voice is still trembling, but most of it is masked by the fact that her head is buried between Shiro's shoulders and chest.

"To be honest Mikumo, yes, you are a burden to me and probably everyone else, but..." He stops when she looks up at him, the pink on her cheeks still present along with the small tears.

"But?" The words were even less than a whisper.

"You've been with them for an considerable amount of time, so if they didn't want to put up with your behavior, do you think you'd still be here today?"

Mikumo shakes her head, but still kept her gaze on him. "And you?"

Shiro smiles genuinely at her, causing her blush even more. "Mikumo, I expected you to be a burden, as I do with all of the people I am contracted to protect; do you want to know the difference between you and them is?"

Mikumo simply leans in closer, and Shiro clenches the hand not on Mikumo's head to stop himself from focusing on the overwhelming yet subtle scent of cinnamon. "It didn't feel the slightest bit meaningful for me to protect them; it didn't matter what the personality of my contractor or protected person was, or how well we got along, it just didn't feel right to me. Here," He stops to part a lock of her hair obstructing her face, causing her to turn a pink akin to Freyja's rune. "it just feels right, and despite my normally blank expression, I actually like being here with all of you, especially you Mikumo."

Mikumo looked as though she was going to say something, but a familiar hacker's voice makes her freeze.

"Was that a confession of love?" Reina smiles cheekily as she pokes her head around the corner.

"Oh my god, that was soooo cute!" Makina exclaims as she pops out next to Reina.

"That was surprisingly honest." Hayate casually remarks, Freyja under his arm.

Freyja grins, snuggling with Hayate. "But, it's nice to see him being honest, isn't it?"

"Does that imply you all do not think I am honest with all of you?" Shiro narrows his eyes at Reina and Makina, who tense up under his gaze. Reina turned towards Mikumo for a reprieve from Shiro's gaze, only to find that Mikumo was glaring at her just as much, except her cheeks were as pink as Makina's hair.

"Still lovely." Reina mutters, her cheeky grin still present.

"Not really, it's more like you don't tell us much." Hayate replies flatly, Freyja humming her agreement.

"That, and I can't make up a cute nickname for you, Shiro!" Makina adds bubbly.

"I do not believe 'cute' is a word that describes me." Shiro mutters loud enough for them to hear.

"Amazing is, isn't it?" Mikumo absentmindedly asks no one in particular. Her pupils narrow to the size of pins when she realizes she made her thoughts known to everyone nearby.

For a painfully long fifteen seconds, no one said anything, mainly to process what Mikumo had said. Everyone gaped at Mikumo, while Shiro simply stared at her.

"Does that count as a confession of love?" Reina asks no one in particular.

"I don't see how it couldn't." Makina smirks.

Mikumo's face, at this point, had turned a shade of red only Kaname's hair could match. She could only sputter and fidget as Hayate, Freyja, and Reina give her mixed expressions ranging from disbelief, adorable smiles, and smiles that held underlying messages she didn't even want to think about.

"Do you two enjoy toying with Mikumo?" Shiro frowns at the duo.

"Kind of." Reina replies nonchalantly.

Shiro's frown deepens, making the atmosphere much less light-hearted than she had intended; Makina quickly picked up on this.

"W-we're not doing it to antagonize her, Shiro. We just want her to open up in any way possible."

Mikumo recovered at hearing this, surprise written all over her face. Shiro didn't relent in his unfavorable gaze.

"And teasing her while she opened up to me about concerns she did not think to talk to you about was your way of 'getting her to open up'?"

The four of them immediately stopped.

"Concerns?" Freyja and Hayate were immediately on alert.

"What's he talking about, Kumo-Kumo?" Makina turns on the now recovered Star Singer.

Mikumo didn't say anything, opting to lean on Shiro further while avoiding their gazes.

Shiro exhaled silently through his nose. "Apologies, I said something I should not have said without Mikumo's permission. Please disregard-"

"Mikumo, what's wrong?" Reina asks, the humor all but nonexistent.

"I...I just...I was just thinking about what's happened lately, reevaluating my life decisions, and reevaluating the way I make decisions in the future." Mikumo says softly.

"We're sorry." Reina and Makina apologize in unison.

"Don't worry about it, just try to read the atmosphere next time." Mikumo dismisses them flatly.

"Anyway, I think we should return to the meeting upstairs; I doubt our guests will tolerate half of us leaving on a whim." Shiro says calmly, standing up.

Mikumo gently tugs at him. "Shiro?"

Shiro looks down, taking note of the pink dusting her cheeks. "Yes?"

"A word alone?" Mikumo looks at the four standing nearby. "Sorry, this will only take a couple minutes."

"No problem. I'll just tell them you're sorting out your thoughts." Hayate nods to Shiro before taking Freyja's hand and walking up the stairs.

"We'll see you upstairs, Kumo-Kumo." Makina smiles gently at Mikumo.

"We got you covered, so take your time, Mikumo." Reina turns and leaves with Makina.

"Thanks." Mikumo says before turning to look at Shiro, who knelt next to Mikumo.

"Something still bothering you?" Shiro looks at Mikumo, whose blush had only deepened in the past minute.

"Kind of. I just...I just want to get this off my chest." Mikumo takes a deep breath. "Shiro, I...I really like you, but I can't explain why...I...I don't know if I even have the right to like you, given the situation."

Shiro simply stared at her, his mouth open slightly.

Mikumo, upon seeing Shiro's reaction, blushed deeper. "L-look, I just..." She trails off as Shiro kneels close to her. It was at this point Shiro noticed that her hair had started glowing softly.

"Mikumo..." Before he could stop himself, his hand was caressing her cheek; he didn't even realize he had leaned so close to her until he saw his reflection in her sleek, crimson eyes. They continued to lean forward until their foreheads met. Mikumo basked in the warmth that only Shiro could provide, and Shiro relished in the aromatic scent of cinnamon that seemed to emanate from Mikumo's being. They remained like that for what seemed to be hours until the sound of distant talking snaps them both back to reality. Shiro looked at Mikumo, his gaze relaying a message she shared: they would meet later and continue their 'discussion.' Shiro stood up first, offering his hand to Mikumo, who took it gratefully, a small smile gracing her face. Shiro returned the smile before returning to his usual stoic self. Mikumo followed suit, switching to her 'business mode.' They made their way upstairs, where the four commanding officers plus Toland were standing, the other pilots and the rest of Walkure were waiting. Hayate nods to Shiro, while Freyja smiles gently at Mikumo.

Mikumo steps forward towards the leadership. "I apologize for leaving on short notice, I needed to sort out my thoughts."

Illya looks at her critically. "Hmm, I see. Are you well enough to continue with the meeting?"

Mikumo, while calm on the outside, fumed internally. "Yes, I should be well enough to continue onwards."

If Illya noticed the hint of venom in Mikumo's voice, she didn't show it. "And you?" She says pointedly to Shiro, who doesn't seem to react in the slightest.

"My purpose is to look after Ms. Guynemer, regardless of internal or external circumstances. If you have an issue with this..." Shiro trails off.

"What would you advise me to do?" Illya asks back, her tone heated. By this point, the discussion had drawn the attention of everyone in the room. Shiro had long since become aware of the watchful gazes of both his superiors, and the even more watchful gaze of the ISDF Commanding Officer.

"Either ask for Captain Ernest or Major Molders to renegotiate my contract, or simply put up with it." Shiro replies coolly. He ignores the smirks that Arad and Ryu give him, on top of the rather inconspicuous grin Ernest gives him.

A vein appears on Illya's forehead. "Is that so?"

"Yes, it is. I am simply following the conditions of my contract." Shiro replied, maintaining his stoic attitude and composure.

"And you've been faithfully following the conditions of your contract since you were contracted?" Illya narrows her eyes at Shiro.

"Yes; even more so recently given the events that transpired in the past 24 hours." Shiro stops, his composure steadfast. "If you are finished, Major, we still have things that need to be discussed."

Illya finally took notice of the fact that the entire room was watching the two of them. Her eyebrow twitches before she regains her composure. She turns to look at Ryu and Toland, who are both giving her cocky, Hayate-like smirks. Without saying a word, Illya takes a slip of paper out of her jacket, walks over to Ryu, and sticks it in his jacket.

"You win." Is all she says before returning to her original position.

Everyone in the room watched the three of them with mixed levels of curiosity, while Shiro and Mikumo simply looked at each other until Ryu begins talking.

"Alright, now that everyone's back, let's continue; there's isn't much left to discuss without turning this into a office board meeting, so let's get to it."

"I believe we were discussing whether or not to attempt to make allies with the Windermereans." Illya starts.

"Not to mention, there is the matter of the new Valkyrie blueprint that's on Al-Shahal." Arad points out.

"The way I see it, we could either go after the new Valkyrie blueprint or try and get Windermere on our side for the upcoming conflict." Ryu puts a hand on his chin.

"We could do both." Toland says.

"That too, but we still have to figure out how to allocate our forces; you guys don't know the extent of our forces' abilities, and vice versa." Arad crosses his arms.

"Major Molders is right, we should gauge each other so as to group up our pilots in the most efficient way possible. That, and we also need to incorporate Walkure as well." Ernest looks down slightly.

"It looks like we'll have plenty to do in the upcoming months, huh?" Ryu exhales softly.

"It seems that way, Colonel. We-" Illya starts as Miyuki runs toward the group.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Colonel, Major. There is an incoming message on the same frequency you used to contact us, the other person on the line said it was urgent. They told me to relay the phrase: 'Broken Chains.'" Miyuki looked concerned.

Ryu and Illya stiffen as they look at each other.

"What's going on?" Ernest was on alert.

Ryu grimaced as he turned toward the group. "Did you all know that there was a large NUNS fleet, including a Macross-class warship in orbit of Ragna?"

"We know now. What are they doing?" Ernest asks, ignoring the shocked crew behind him.

"It seems that we've been found out; our ships are engaging the fleet now, but with that Macross-class warship there, I doubt it's a fight we can win." Ryu says, his expression grim.

"What kind of ships do you have?" Arad asks, recovered from his initial shock.

"Five ships total, two battleships and three carriers, all heavily modified prototypes of existing warships." Ryu fires off.

"All of our ships have heavy energy cannons that could easily damage and/or cripple the Macross, but the problem lies with the fact that there are nine enemy carriers and ten battleships. Our ships are incredibly vulnerable whilst firing, given the prototype nature of the ships, firing the energy cannons leaves them with low power output for a few minutes, which is more than enough for the enemy fleet to annihilate our ships." Illya quickly rattles off the information.

"Man, we don't get a break, do we?" Chuck rubs the back of his neck.

"We'll scramble who we can, but a lot of our fighters are under maintenance." Ernest notes.

"We appreciate it." Ryu says before turning to his daughters. "Yui, Yuki."

The Takamura sisters snap to attention with simultaneous "Yes sirs."

"I need you two in the air, link up with the rest of your squad. Masaki, same goes for you, but make sure Schwernz gets to his Konig, we're gonna need it." Ryu pauses when he looks at Messer. "Ihlefeld, as of this moment, you are under command of Captain Ernest and Major Molders. Understood?"

Messer snaps to a salute. "Yes sir."

As the ISDF pilots turn to leave, Arad and Ernest turn towards Delta Platoon and Walkure.

"Delta Platoon, are you all up?" Arad asks.

"Yes sir." Mirage, Hayate, and Messer reply.

"Aye sir." Chuck grins.

"Awaiting orders, Major." Shiro calmly replies.

"Our mission as of now is to support the ISDF as they fend off the Apex of Humanity. We'll send the Aether up with whatever fighters we can. Walkure, it's your call on whether or not you want to go up with them." Ernest looks at the singers.

"We'll be there, Captain. Right girls?" Kaname turns to the rest of the singers.

"Yeah!" Freyja chimes.

"Wouldn't miss it." Reina smiles.

"I know someone's gonna need me up there." Makina says with her usual bubbliness.

"Do you even have to ask?" Mikumo smiles at Kaname.

"Looks like we'll have to practice later, Kumo-Kumo." Makina grins at Mikumo.

"Think of this as live-action practice." Mikumo says.

As the singers turn to leave, Arad puts a hand on Messer's shoulder.

"Messer, your callsign from here on out will be Delta-3. Sorry, but Mirage earned her way to being my second-in-command." He grins at Messer.

Messer returns the smile. "I wouldn't dream of it, sir."

"Does everyone have to 'sir' me? I feel like I'm getting old." Arad cracks.

"I would not have to address you so if you did not lie about your rank, _sir._ " Shiro says coolly. "Also, I do not have a fighter at this time, I was unfortunately too rough with the last one."

"Oh right." Arad frowns. "I'm not sure if we have any spare fighters. The rest of Delta Platoon, get in your fighters and link up with ACE squads 1 and 2."

The four pilots turn and leave promptly. Arad turns to Shiro as Ryu walks over to them.

"I hear your newest pilot doesn't have a fighter?" Ryu asks calmly.

"No, he went and got shot down 8 hours ago." Arad jests at Shiro, who didn't flinch.

"Well, Okumura, it's your lucky day. I know we've got some spare fighters in our hangers, we can have you ride in the stealth shuttle Barchenowa and I took here." Ryu says.

"If Walkure is going to join the battle aboard the Aether, I would rather ride the on it in the event that an enemy manages to board the ship."

"Walkure's protector above all else, huh?" Ryu smirks.

"Technically, Mikumo's first and foremost, but Walkure a high-tier priority." Shiro coolly remarks.

Ryu looks at Shiro evenly for a moment before alarms go off. "Alright, it looks like we all know where we need to be. Okumura, we'll get you a fighter as soon you get close. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong."

Shiro looks at Ryu briefly before he turns away. "Colonel, if my experience has taught me anything, one should always prepare for anything and everything to go wrong."

Arad and Ryu exchanges glances.

"Strange guy you picked up."

"Gets the job done plus some. Has the right mix of confidence and humbleness. What more could you ask for?"

"Point taken. Shall we get a move on?"

"You fly with your subordinates?"

"I wish, but my XO and my daughters would kill me if I tried."

"Heh, easy retirement."

"Like hell it is. Here's to hoping things don't get any worse."

With that, the two seniors of their respective air wings left the bridge of the Elysion to confront their adversaries. It seemed, their hardships had just begun.

* * *

Alright, this chapter was some 13,000 words, technically took me four months to write even though I was incapacitated for two and half of them, and is kinda an exposition dump. Sorry, but I need to advance the story, and I didn't want everyone to think this was a dead story, can't please everyone. Anyways, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. I will try to post more frequently, but I'm not feeling my best right now, so I hope you all can forgive me. That aside, if you have any thoughts you want to share with me, leave a comment or a review and I'll get back to you ASAP. See you all later!


	17. Chapter 17 (Hooray, content!)

Hello everyone, here's the newest chapter, as promised. To be honest, I'm almost certain these chapters will eventually hover around 13,000 to 18,000 words, mainly because I like to read big, long chapters as opposed to loads of tiny chapters. In any case, read and I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

 _15 minutes later, the Aether's flight deck_

Hayate, Mirage, and Chuck had just finished putting on their suits as Messer walks up to them, the latter wearing his ISDF pilot suit. The Grim Reaper looks at them with a cautious expression.

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do, or rather have things that need to be explained, but if you all could believe me this one time when I say that I couldn't describe everything that's happened since I...left if I wanted to. I'm sorry." Messer says with a sizable amount of remorse in his voice.

Hayate remains calm as Chuck and Mirage nod with various emotions in their gazes.

Chuck recovers first and quickly as he grins. "Man, just try not to get shot down this time, will ya?" Chuck then turns serious. "We really missed you, even if some of us won't admit it."

"It's not that, Chuck." Mirage lightly punches Chuck's shoulder before turning to Messer. "Messer, try not to be so cold this time around; we were comrades before and we still are. Just think about how we feel before you retreat into your shell."

Messer looks at Hayate, who is giving him a cryptic look. Before Messer can say anything, Hayate cuts him off.

"Look, Messer. First off, it's not like you to be this way, so don't think too hard about it. Second, the best way I think you could make up for this crap is to not pull the stuff you pulled back when; if you have a problem that you can't solve yourself, then don't go at it by yourself. When everything is said and done, you'd probably have hurt more than you'd have helped." Hayate's demeanor was level.

"Hayate..." Messer trails off as Arad walks up to all of them.

"Alright, here's the deal. My Siegfried has work that needs to be done on it, and it will take longer than we have before Delta Platoon is supposed to launch. Also, in light of the Elysion's primary systems being crippled, I will be taking command of our forces in the field. Mirage, you're my XO, just like before. Until I can launch, I'll be coordinating movements and working with the ISDF's leadership on board. Best of luck to all of you."

"Yes sir." Mirage nods.

"Understood." Hayate replies.

"Aye sir." Chuck responds in his usual manner.

"You too, sir." Messer looks at Arad.

"I'll be in touch on the comms." Arad says as he walks away.

Shiro appears out of the elevator Arad called, wearing his usual black combat jacket, pants, boots and gloves, on top of the dual primary combat sword mount, including the sheaths, on his back and the sidearms on each of his thighs. He is also wearing angled forearm bracers and shin guards.

"I will not be able to join the rest of you in aerial combat until the Aether successfully and safely docks with one of the ISDF's carrier vessels. More so, I suspect that our new allies will be short on spare fighters and other equipment, so I will have to make do with what is available to me."

"Don't worry, Shiro." Mirage smiles at the bodyguard. "We can pick up your slack."

"Yeah," Chuck adds, "hopefully they don't give you an old fighter or something and expect you to fight."

"In hindsight, I assume most fighters have the same controls, the main difference being performance, so if that does happen to be the case, I should be fine." Shiro replies somewhat indifferently.

"The controls aren't the problem for someone who is familiar with piloting; it's the overall performance of the fighter, namely the Inertia Store Converter unit for each model. Granted, the VF-171EX didn't even have an ISC on it, but it had an EX-Gear equipped cockpit, which reduces the effect of G-forces on your body." Mirage explains.

Hayate clears his throat to get Shiro's attention. "Anyway, I don't think I should have to tell you this, but don't get gung-ho about flying combat in space. Trust me, your first time can be especially rough." Hayate then walks off as one of the mechanics call out to him. "Excuse me a minute."

As Hayate walks away, Mirage, Messer, and Chuck look at each other, concern plastered all over their faces as Shiro observes them.

"Is there something wrong with the Hayate is acting?" Shiro questions blankly.

"I'm not sure. He definitely wasn't like this before." Chuck says softly.

"Why do I feel like this is my fault..." Messer asked softly to himself.

"No one can really say it's your fault, Messer. Things were a rollercoaster of sorts after what happened to you, and Hayate found himself with heavier decisions and darker scenarios than he might've been ready for." Mirage says, saddened by the increasingly heavy atmosphere that surrounded her former student.

"I guess I really underestimated him, and it might've come across as belittling. Looking back now-" Messer says as Shiro cuts him off.

"Messer, was it? If this is bothering you to this large an extent, then meditate on what you can do to make up for past transgressions. However, now is not the time for that." Shiro says to Messer, who flinches at the abruptness. Chuck and Mirage glance at each other briefly before looking back at Shiro.

Sensing their unease, Shiro continues. "If I were to be completely honest, the events of the past 24 hours or so are the most likely cause for Hayate's change in behavior. He has witnessed mercenaries molest and assault both Freyja and Mirage while he was unable to help them; it seems natural for him to be this way."

Mirage flinches at the reminder while Chuck frowns at Shiro. "Oi, Shiro-"

"I am not finished. I did not say I am content with this change, I am simply explaining what I believe are the reasons behind this." Shiro looks at Mirage. "Please excuse my bluntness, Mirage."

Mirage shakes her head. "Don't worry about it, Shiro. Some things don't need to be thought about too deeply, and that was one of them. I can't say it doesn't bother me, but it isn't as bad as one would think; I'm more worried about Freyja."

Hayate comes back, helmet in hands, as the other Delta Platoon members finish talking. "Did I miss something?"

"No, we were just talking about the potential Valkyries I may be granted when we dock with one of the ISDF's carriers." Shiro responds.

"If I remember correctly, aside from the VF-30's, they have VF-25 Messiahs." Messer notes.

"Aren't those kinda old?" Chuck raises an eyebrow.

"They're about ten or twelve years old, but their performance is still suitable for them to be in service. As far as I know, they are not much slower than Siegfrieds or Kairos, however, Chronos are considerably faster. All things considered, unless we run into another squad of Durandals, our main opponents will be flying Nightmares, which can hardly compare to the fighters aforementioned." Messer explains.

The sound of alarms buzzing and a slight jerk makes them all aware of the Aether's separation from the Elysion, meaning any available fighters were going to launch soon. The pilots all turn to walk towards their respective fighters, Shiro excluded. As they walk, Shiro walks alongside them.

"How does the armament and armor compare to that of current generation fighters, or at least our opponents' fighters?" Shiro asks, half in thought.

"The armor on a VF-25 is considerably weaker than that of a VF-30 or even a VF-171, but I know for a fact they have multiple different equipment modules and packs that can be mounted to improve its performance significantly. Also, on top of boosters, the packs mainly feature missile packs of various sizes and calibers, but the Armored pack for the VF-25 features anti-ship guns, as well as the Tornado pack which features beam guns with supplementary equipment. I don't know if they'll be giving that out though, as they're normally reserved for team leaders or pilots with high clearance due to good combat records."

"Do those even get used often enough to get restrictions on them? They are at least ten years old, so I imagine the ISDF has a large fleet of Chronos, right?" Hayate wonders aloud.

"They do, it's just that they may not want to lend Shiro one on the grounds that they don't know how good of a pilot he is." Messer explains.

"That reasoning is justified; I have only flown into combat once, in which case I was shot down, which I surmise does not look good for my record. Giving me an older generation fighter with minimal additional equipment would minimize potential losses." Shiro stoically notes.

"Still, Lieutenant Colonel Takamura or Major Barchenowa should've at least let their deck crews know that you're a bit more important than one of the regular pilots running around for either Chaos or the ISDF right now." Mirage frowns at Shiro's objective nature.

"I very much doubt they haven't; they know Shiro's relation to Mikumo and have probably seen his performance as a pilot to be satisfactory enough to warrant giving him appropriate resources." Messer says.

"The real issue is their sheer numbers; I hope our leadership has or is formulating a plan to deal with this properly. The previous attack seemed to rely solely on sheer numbers in their attempt to overwhelm us, aside from that group of fighters that shot me down. I doubt our enemies' leadership will make the same mistake again." Shiro rubs his chin as they reach the bays where Delta Platoon's Siegfrieds were stored.

Messer looks at Hayate, Mirage and Chuck as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. The other three nodded to him, as if they understood his intent. A nearby explosion rocks the ship as more alarms begin to blare, this time, the tone and pace more aggressive. The voice of Ernest sounds over the intercom.

"Aether flights, prepare for launch. Due to engine problems, the Hermera will be delayed up to 45 minutes; the Aether has broken orbit and is in the process of linking up with the closest ISDF carrier, Enterprise. Her two sister ships, the Lionheart and Arcadia will be operating within ten klicks of each other. All units be advised, the ISDF battleship Hammer of Sol is currently engaging five hostile battleships near the Aether's orbit exit point. Alpha Platoon will deploy to assist and defend the ISDF Hammer of Sol as the Aether moves to dock with the Enterprise. Beta and Delta Platoon will defend the Aether; Gamma platoon will move to engage hostiles in the vicinity of the Enterprise. Good luck, everyone!"

Hayate, Mirage, Chuck, and Messer all climb into their respective Siegfrieds, outfitted with Super Packs, as Shiro turns to walk back to the elevator up to Walkure's changing room.

As he walks away, Chuck grins at Messer. "Man, sure was convenient for your higher-ups to let you park your Siegfried next to ours, eh Messer?"

Messer, surprisingly, gives Chuck a small smile. "I convinced them it was better for my plane to be stored somewhere where it would actually fit rather than somewhere they could keep an eye on me."

Mirage gives Messer a half cocky smile. "Hehh, when did you learn to stretch your superiors' patience?"

"Same time you learned to stop relying on textbook moves like your life depended on it." Messer was clearly joking along with them at this point.

"Fair enough." Mirage sighs.

"Welp, it only took a near-death experience for you to pull that stick outta your ass, huh Messer?" This would have soured the mood if the three of them didn't see Hayate's cocky, shit-eating grin through their HUD's.

"Really now; have you finally found something to take seriously, Hayate?" Messer scoffs jokingly at Hayate.

Hayate's grin deepens. "Have you looked at my bird recently, Messer?"

By this point, their respective elevators had begun their ascent, so Messer couldn't actually see Hayate's Siegfried. As their elevators reached the top, Messer realized two things. First, the Hammer of Sol looked an infinite number of times larger than the Aether even from a distance. Second, his Siegfried was on the outer deck next to Hayate's while Mirage's was in the middle. While Messer would've pointed out/complained about the order, he also got a solid view of Hayate's Siegfried. It could only be described as a cross between his and Hayate's original Siegfried, in more ways than one. The wing trim was teal on the outside, like before, but there was another layer of solid black before the wing turned silver. Having noticed this, Messer's gaze drifted to the insignia on Hayate's Siegfried: It was identical to his, except the skull was replaced with an image of his Siegfried's head unit, reminiscent of a knight. Messer hardly noticed the lights on his lane flash on, and barely managed to launch in sync with the rest of Delta Platoon as the buzzer signaled their takeoff. A trio of dark blue NUNS stealth cruisers was close to the Aether as they launched, their turrets turning towards them. Before any of them can react, multiple wide beams turn the ships into Swiss cheese. The cruisers list awkwardly away from the Aether before their hulls warp and turn orange. The resulting explosion rocked the Aether and Delta Platoon.

Messer, as if he didn't even notice the stealth cruisers' destruction, glances at Hayate as they align in to formation with Mirage at the tip, Chuck and Hayate on her left and right, respectively. Messer took up the rear behind Mirage.

"Hayate..." Messer says softly, his tone somber.

"Missed you too." Hayate says with a low tone.

"Delta Platoon, Beta Platoon launched before us, and they're going to hold the second line around the Aether. We're going to be the first line of defense. Hopefully, the Apex will be occupied enough with the ISDF's ships to not send us as many enemies as before, but stay on your guard."

Three "Yes Ma'ams" echo through the line.

"Mirage, should we attack to disable?" Chuck asks quietly.

There is a brief silence before Mirage responds. "No; we don't have that luxury. When the battle winds down, assuming we come out on top, if they surrender openly, then disable them, but for now, it's us or them."

"Understood."

Messer smiles, something the other three pilots immediately took note of.

"Something funny, Messer?" Mirage asks, curious.

"No, I was just remembering how you used to take an unnecessarily long time to make decisions, but now, you seem to be able to make quick, smart decisions."

"It's just something that needed to happen, Delta-3."

"Roger that."

"So does that mean I'm Delta 4 now and dancing boy over here is Delta-5?" Chuck jokes through the comms.

"Heh, you're only calling me that cuz' you're not as popular during the air shows as I am." Hayate shoots back.

"Oi, you two." Mirage snaps through the line.

"Yes Ma'am." The two respond in sync.

"Stop competing with the main attraction, you've got no chance." Mirage had a surprisingly confident smile on her face, much to the disdain of the other two pilots.

"You mean Walkure?" Messer asks, half joking, half curious.

Mirage exhales audibly while Chuck and Hayate face-palm.

"Wasn't that obvious already?"

"Dude, after this, we're taking a vacation."

"And by we, we mean you and Kaname. Maybe me and Freyja too."

"I-"

"Nope."

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"We don't need to."

"Look, I-" Messer starts, but is cut off by Chuck calling out enemy movements.

"Hostiles incoming! Three squads at our 11 o' clock! Two more at our 2 o' clock!"

"Delta Platoon, engage, watch each other's backs!" Mirage orders as she and Hayate automatically accelerate in almost complete sync with each other.

The lead squad of VF-171's were all equipped with Super Packs, and were presumably VF-171EX's based on their grey body paint and the visible gunpod on its starboard dorsal fuselage. The other two squads of VF-171's appeared to be standard issue fighters, a theory supported by their navy blue body paint. The VF-171EX's fire off all of their guided missiles at the outnumbered Delta Platoon before switching to Gerwalk mode and reversing away from them as the standard Nightmares blast past them on a clearly aggressive flight pattern. Mirage and Hayate split apart briefly, both of them entering Gerwalk mode and blasting half of the missiles apart before realizing that every missile had only one target: a certain gold Siegfried flying some distance behind them.

"Delta-4, missiles incoming!" Mirage yells.

Chuck grins as he switches to Battroid mode and fires off missiles in his chest-mounted launchers. His missiles impact the incoming missiles, creating a massive screen of explosions. The two squads that charged past Hayate and Mirage all switched to Gerwalk mode to avoid being decimated in the screen of explosions, only to come under heavy fire from Messer, who had stayed in between Chuck and the duo. Two of them were torn apart as Messer gunned one down with his railguns and beamed the other in half. The remaining four turned towards him, only to get barraged by more missiles from the impromptu smokescreen Chuck had created. Only one managed to avoid getting instantly blown to bits, having used maximum thrust just in time to avoid the missiles. His respite was short, however, as the Grim Reaper lived up to his name, shooting off both arm units of the lone Nightmare before shredding the chest. At this point the other two VF-171 squads had arrived, with the first squad of VF-171EX's in tow. The new squads split apart and fired their anti-air and medium range ordnance in a path that covered Delta Platoon's left and right, blocking their path with explosions. A fourth squadron pulled towards them from behind, also firing their anti-air and medium range missiles in a cone pattern. Finding themselves in a tight situation, they all split up without a word being said. Messer went forward, blasting a Nightmare that attempted to stop him in Battroid mode. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by Messer, Hayate fired off enough missiles as he flew upwards to both distract and destroy the Nightmares behind him, giving Mirage and Chuck a chance to escape. Mirage peeled left, firing a few beams as she rolled away from the indiscriminate firing of the Nightmares surrounding them. Chuck zigzagged his way under, over and around the beams that the EX Nightmares were raining down upon him. Unfortunately, having the radome on his dorsal fuselage meant he had somewhat reduced maneuverability compared to the others; the fact reared its ugly head when Chuck felt his Siegfried jerk from a Nightmare behind him scoring a lucky hit on his wingtip. The damage itself wasn't very consequential, but the impulse from the 30mm quantum beam cannon caused his Siegfried to veer slightly toward the right, into the path of another shot. Luckily, it impacted the enhanced shield under his wing, but again, it resulted in a slight movement from the impulse. Chuck struggled to regain control as the Nightmares recognized his increased vulnerability. The other three pilots, now outside of the cluster of Nightmares, watched in horror as half of them descended upon their fellow pilot and cook.

"Delta-4! Get out of there!" Mirage yelled as she shot a Nightmare apart while using his wingman as a body shield.

Hayate immediately shot towards Chuck whilst remembering not to expend all of his propellant in the process. He shot apart a Nightmare in his way before blasting another his beam pod. A third attempted to body block him, but Hayate, having learned how to control his Siegfried effectively in Battroid mode, simply switched, spin-kicked the Nightmare, and blasted it using his momentum before continuing onwards. Messer watched, impressed and surprised, before turning to Mirage.

"Shall we?" He asked coolly.

"When were you such a gentleman?" Mirage joked with a light smile as she dodged and kicked a Nightmare in Battroid mode charging her.

"I've tried, okay?" Messer responded as he shot the Nightmare barreling towards him from Mirage's kick.

"Weren't you always the one to tell us to do and not try?!" Mirage teases Messer as she jets off and snipes a Nightmare near Hayate with her beam pod.

"Very funny." Messer half growls as he boosts after Mirage, tearing apart a Nightmare attacking from his side.

"Chuck! Are you okay?!" Hayate yells as he weaves his way in between hostile beams towards Chuck whilst returning fire from his beam gun.

"I've been better, otherwise, I think I'm fine!" Chuck responds, having recovered. His Siegfried was in Battroid mode, and was missing its left arm shield, along with a piece of its chest armor.

"Have you been slacking off on your training, Chuck?" Messer asks as he steadies next to Chuck and fires away at the three remaining Nightmares. One loses its arm and gunpod, the impulse knocking it into a nearby asteroid. Meanwhile, the other two fly away, leaving their comrade behind.

"That's not funny, man."

Mirage pulls next to them in Battroid mode. "For the record, he actually wasn't slacking on his training because we haven't been training any more than normal. It's not like we've had any time to practice lately."

"I was trying to make a joke."

"..." The other three pilots stare at Messer in silence, both through their HUDS and through Battroid mode.

"Do we laugh or groan?" Chuck asks without humor.

Messer exhales. "Let's just get a move on."

Mirage laughs earnestly. "A. I'm in command right now. B. At least you tried."

Messer twitches before a smile breaks out on his face. "Yes, ma'am."

"Delta Platoon, this is Beta-1. What's your status, over?" The Chaos squad leader rings them.

"Beta-1, this is Delta-2, acting flight commander. All active pilots accounted for and operational. We've cleaned up the hostiles in this sector, and judging by the scans..." Mirage trails off as she cues Chuck.

"The Aether is cruising through sector K5, on approach to K6. The ISDF Hammer of Sol is stationed in sector J7. We'll link up with the ISDF Hammer of Sol and proceed to sector J10 and link up with the ISDF Enterprise." Chuck says, looking to Mirage for confirmation.

"At this rate, we'll be able to link with the Hammer in approximately 20 minutes. We'll clear out any hostiles in our path, as we get closer to the Hammer, her AA defenses should provide enough cover for us and the Aether. Everyone up?"

A chorus of "Yes ma'ams" echoes through the line.

Mirage turns to Chuck. "Delta-4, go get your bird fixed up. The damage probably isn't too bad, but better safe than sorry."

"Will you guys be alright without your favorite side character? Someone's gotta be the one to call out all the enemy's movements." Chuck grins widely at his squadmates.

"Now who's the one who reads too much shounen manga?" Hayate retorts quietly.

"Still you." Mirage and Chuck respond simultaneously.

"What's shounen manga?" Messer asks.

"Ugh, just go, Chuck." Hayate pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, okay, I'm going. Don't have too much fun without me!" Chuck laughs as he transforms and flies back to the Aether, some distance behind them and Beta Platoon.

Hayate watches him leave before sighing. "Jesus, and I'm the one who doesn't take everything seriously."

"You used to not take anything seriously. Now you take half of the things around here seriously." Mirage retorts.

"As long as he focuses on the important things, I think everything else is irrelevant." Messer adds.

"That sure didn't take long." Hayate mutters.

"What didn't take long?" Mirage and Messer ask in unison.

"Don't worry about it. Is Arad going to ring in or what? It's been too quiet on his end." Hayate changes the subject.

Messer and Mirage look at each other, silently agreeing to let it go for the time being.

"This is Delta-1. All Chaos flights, status reports." Arad voices, as if on cue.

"Alpha-1, all members accounted for and operational. The Hammer is being assaulted by three different groups of stealth cruisers and carriers, but is still fully operational."

"Beta-1, all members accounted for and operational. Second line has not been breached."

"Gamma-1, Gamma 5 is down...no sign of pilot ejection. Gamma 1,2, 3, and 4 are fully operational. The Enterprise is under heavy assault from Apex battleships and fighter squadrons."

Mirage looks at Hayate and Messer before tuning in. "Delta-2, Delta-4 is en route to the Aether in need of repairs. All other active members accounted for and operational."

"Roger that, Delta-2. What is Delta-4's status?" Arad's voice carried a hint of concern.

"Delta-4 is still operational, but is damaged. I made the call for Delta-4 to return to the Aether."

"Understood. Alpha, Beta, Gamma flights, resume operations as per last given orders. Delta Platoon, a word."

The three remaining pilots switch to the secure line.

"What is it, sir?" Mirage asks.

"I understand your call to send Chuck back, given the fact that this fight isn't even close to over yet, but next time, send someone back with him, and switch out with Beta Platoon until the pair returns. The Hermera is taking longer than expected to launch, and we're stretched thin because of it. We cannot afford to lose anyone this early on."

Mirage nods. "Understood."

"Also, my Siegfried is taking longer than expected to get running, so I will most likely launch alongside Chuck. Hang in there, you three."

The three pilots nod in affirmation.

"Messer, how're you holding up?" Arad asks his former second-in-command.

Messer seemed taken aback for a moment. "I am fine, sir."

Arad hums briefly. "Alright, I hope whatever happened with you after Al-Shahal fixed you up, but if there's anything going on during this battle, you better not hide it. That's an order-"

"I fully understand, sir. I will not make the same mistake again." Messer looks his mentor directly in the eye.

Arad nods. "Mirage, I assume you've gone over the plan with Beta Platoon?"

Mirage hums in affirmation. "We're on approach to the rendezvous point with the Hammer, so far we've been able to handle everything that's been thrown at us."

"Good. I've received word from Lieutenant Colonel Takamura that the Macross warship hanging in the back is carrying VF-25s. How many they're carrying, and what kind of equipment they have, we don't know. The one thing he did confirm is that only their best pilots will be flying them."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense. Didn't we just fight those on Ragna?" Hayate cuts in.

"No, those were VF-29s. Still, why did they send VF-29s piloted by less than veteran pilots?" Messer adds.

"We don't have enough information to figure everything out; however, data on those VF-29s' flight patterns showed that there is a high probability that they were unmanned."

The three of them grow silent at hearing this. An alert signaling proximity jolts the three pilots.

"171s incoming!" Messer warns over the comm.

Hayate and Mirage both turn to see a dozen Nightmares flying towards them, each loaded with enough missiles to annihilate the Aether.

"This is going to be a long fight..." Hayate groans quietly.

"Well, it's not like we'll be running out of things to do." Mirage says half sarcastically.

"Shall we?" Messer smiles thinly at the duo.

"You're too used to ordering me around." Mirage smirks.

"They're not gonna shoot themselves down." Hayate grins.

With that, the three switched to fighter mode and accelerated towards the cluster of Nightmares, a cloud of explosions ensuing.

* * *

 _The Aether, outside Walkure's changing room_

Mikumo, Freyja, Kaname, Makina, and Reina are all in the process of applying the pink, holograph-basing gel onto their bodies when they hear a knock on the door. Given that only Mikumo and Kaname had fully applied the gel to their bodies, but had yet to put on their chest pieces, Kaname quickly attaches it to cover her modesty before walking to the door. The rest of them cover their chests with the gel before attaching their chest pieces. The door opens to reveal Shiro, in his combat gear. He looks at Kaname, then at Walkure, his eyes slowly widening as he took in their appearance. Kaname flushes slightly, as do Freyja and Mikumo. Shiro's eyes narrow slightly before he regains his usual stoic composure.

"I apologize for interrupting your changing time, but I have just finished inspecting the... stage on which you all will be performing. If you are not busy at the moment, I have a few questions I would like to ask all of you that pertain to your safety."

Kaname quickly looks back at the rest of Walkure sans Mikumo, who are quickly but are carefully putting on the gel on their arms and legs. "Um...can you give us a moment?"

Shiro bows lightly. "Of course. Please excuse my interruption."

With that, he quickly steps away from the doorway, the door sliding shut behind him. Kaname breaths out softly before turning back to the rest of Walkure.

"What was he here for?" Makina asks.

"Maybe a good look at us?" Reina smirks.

" _Reina."_ Kaname's tone made Reina stiffen slightly.

"Sorry."

"He said he's here to ask us questions about our safety, and he mentioned that he looked at our stage module, so I can imagine he's got a few questions."

"I think he might be worried about how it'll hold up in battle." Freyja softly remarks, thinking back to the first battle of Ragna.

"Well, are you all ready?" Kaname asks.

Mikumo doesn't say anything, her eyes clouded with thought before Freyja nudges her. Mikumo stiffens, the action so subtle, only Freyja noticed. Mikumo turned to look at Freyja.

"Mikumo-san, are you ready?"

Mikumo smiles. "Of course I am."

Freyja makes one of her signature strange grins as she leans towards Mikumo. "You weren't thinking of Shiro, were you?"

Mikumo's eyes widen briefly as her cheeks turn pink. She quickly regains her composure before turning to the door. "Perhaps. Were you thinking of Hayate?"

Freyja's rune twinkles but she doesn't flinch. "Yeah, I was."

Kaname walks over to the door, opening it to see Shiro leaning against the wall next to it.

"Shiro, we're ready."

Shiro nods, though his eyes seem distant. As he walks in, he looks at all of Walkure, and the articles that covered their bodies. He stood there briefly before sitting close to them.

"I just have a few questions pertaining to the details in how you all perform." He gazes intently at them. "Is that what you all wear on stage? I imagine it is some form of holographic displaying material?"

Kaname nods, looking to Makina.

"It's a gel laced with micro-projectors that are linked with primary projector units on our chests, skirts, and feet that display whatever outfits we choose to wear when we perform." Makina explains before demonstrating. As her body glows and is covered in her signature pink outfit, she continues to explain. "We wear electronic nails that change our outfits with a specific movement, so we can change on the fly depending on the song we sing."

Shiro nods, visibly in thought. "And there is nothing to cover you from enemy fire or shrapnel like projectiles?"

The members of Walkure glance at each other. Freyja tries to give Shiro a reassuring smile.

"We don't have anything like that, but that's why we have you guys. We normally don't have that kind of incident."

Shiro frowns slightly. "And your stage module, am I correct in assuming it is reinforced glass laced with ceramic and metallic polymer materials?"

Makina looks at Shiro, surprised. "You can tell what it is just by looking?"

Shiro nods. "I used to work with materials of the same nature, but I stopped after I discovered that it shatters violently when enough pressure or force is applied to it."

Before any of them can retort, Shiro continues. "Also, is there no secondary barrier should the initial barrier be broken?"

Kaname opens her mouth, but quickly closes it, giving Shiro the answer he didn't want to have to confirm.

"So, you all have performed, in space, with no protective equipment of any kind on your persons, in a stage module with no backup shielding functions, meaning that if broken, all of you would be sucked into the vacuum of space with basically no chance of survival." Shiro said this as a statement, his face dark with thought.

"Look," Kaname sighs. "that's the best we can do, and if you've paid the smallest amount of attention to us since you've arrived, you'd know-"

"that it'd kill you faster to stand idly and do nothing rather than risk yourselves on the battlefield?" Shiro finishes for her, and to everyone's surprise, Shiro had a ghost of a smile on his face, although it was laced with bitterness and pain.

"I did not come here to raise doubts or try and convince you not to sing like this; I would just prefer you all have some sort of failsafe, for my peace of mind. Having said this, I have something for all of you."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out five square objects that appear to be microchips, except that they were the size of his palm. The circuits were pulsating a blue similar to the lines that adorned Shiro's swords, and at the bottom, there was a solid red rectangular mass that the circuit lines originated from.

"I cannot go into detail on what these are, but rest assured, they are last resort measures should the worst scenario occur." Shiro explains as he hands one to each member of Walkure.

"What do they do?" Mikumo asks, speaking up for the first time since Shiro entered the room.

Shiro exhales softly. "If you have to use them, I will tell you, but I would much rather you not have to. In short, simply keep it on your person, as long as it is making contact with your body, you will be able to activate it with a specific movement."

"Which is?" Reina asks quietly.

"If you are in trouble, chances are you will do this on instinct, but in case you forget, clench your non dominant hand into a fist as fast as you can." Before any of them can actually do so, Shiro adds, "Don't do it now though, I am uncertain as to whether or not it will work twice, so save it until it is absolutely necessary."

All of them went to securing the chip-like object to their belts. After they had finished, Freyja smiles gently at Shiro.

"You seem to really care for our safety, Shiro-san."

Shiro looked at Freyja and subtly tensed before responding. "Indeed. Although I have never been one to enjoy praise and attention, I do find satisfaction in helping others however possible. I suppose that kind of mindset is unrealistic, isn't it?"

Mikumo, who was sitting next to Shiro the whole time, nudged his shoulder. She gave him an earnest smile, and Shiro tried desperately to not stare at her alluring and ever so attractive face. "I don't think it's bad to think like that, Shiro. You forget, you're talking to the idol group that jumps out of shuttles to mentally crazed and violent individuals for a living, yet we don't crave or seek attention or praise. Our audiences gather of their own free will and we wouldn't have it any other way."

Makina and Reina hum in agreement.

"Yeah, that's not unrealistic at all! In fact, I think it's great you think like that, it's a sign of earnest will to help others!" Makina smiles with a forthrightness her fellow singers had come to know and appreciate.

"On top of that, you always seem to succeed, so I can't find any problems in that." Reina adds, leaning against Makina.

Shiro frowns. "Hardly. I failed to protect all of you, most of all, you, Mikumo." He glances at her stomach. Although there was no visible scar, remembering the exact place she was pierced by the mercenary's knife took no effort. He then glances at Freyja.

Shiro is pulled from his thoughts as Mikumo puts her hand on his. Mikumo leans toward him, her alluring smile still present. "Shiro, I admit, I don't know many things but if there's one thing I can be certain of, it's that if there was anyone else in your place that day, I doubt half of us would still be alive, and I doubt I wouldn't be strapped to a lab table being experimented on by whoever's after me. Don't discredit yourself."

The others nod in agreement, smiles present on their faces.

"I believe in you, Shiro." Mikumo tilts her head slightly.

After a few moments, Shiro exhales softly and smiles lightly at Mikumo. "Thank you." He looks at the rest of Walkure. "All of you."

"We should be the ones thanking you, Shiro." Kaname replies.

After a minute had passed, Shiro spoke up. "By the way, Makina."

"Yes, Shiroshiro?"

Shiro was about to ask his question, but Makina's nickname for him made him stop. "I-what?"

"What? You need a cute nickname, so I gave you one!"

Shiro stared blankly at her for a few seconds. "It does not flow like the other nicknames you gave everyone else." His expression is completely blank.

"Well, what do you suggest I call you?" Makina asked, feigning exasperation.

"My name?"

"I am!"

"...Anyway, I wanted to ask about the fighters that the ISDF uses. According to 1st Lieutenant Ihelfeld, aside from the standard VF-30's they fly, he mentioned the possibility of them having VF-25's. Do you know anything about either of them?"

Makina raises an eyebrow as she leans back. "Hmm, let's see...I don't know much about the VF-30, I mean, the last I heard of it, it was designated YF-30. If the designation's changed, that means they must've started mass-producing it; I mean, they had to have, they have an air fleet comprised of them. If I remember correctly, the VF-31A Kairos and the VF-31 Siegfried were based off of the VF-30. By that reasoning, there shouldn't be that large a difference between the three of them. Having said all that, however, I looked at them, and the weapons are different."

"How so?"

"VF-30's don't carry arm-mounted gunpods like the VF-31. They feature a single gunpod, which means that gunpod is significantly more powerful than the arm-mounted gunpods a VF-31 carries. They also have what appears to be a missile-loaded container in place of the beam pod unit on a VF-31."

"So, VF-30's do not carry the same amount of weapons, but the collective firepower is the same?" Shiro asks, his eyes lost in thought.

"Yeah. As for VF-25's, I know even less about them. They're pretty old in the fighter world, but if the ISDF still uses them, then that means they must have SMS backgrounds, or who knows, they might be the SMS under a new name."

"What's the SMS?" Freyja asks.

"The SMS stands for Strategic Military Services, and they're basically military contractors, like the PMC division of Xaos." Kaname explains. "They were the main force that discovered and put and end to the Frontier-Galaxy Conspiracy seven years ago. They were also a group of highly skilled and well armed pilots, along with their own fleet of Macross-class warships."

"Back to the VF-25, can you tell me anything about it?" Shiro was still in thought.

"Well, as far as I know, the VF-25 and all the other fighters of its time were based off of the YF-24; even the VF-30 is similar in design to the YF-24. Having said that, the VF-25 was unique in that, it had multiple variants that were mass produced and used in service." Makina looks up slightly as she explains.

"Are the Siegfrieds Delta Platoon flies not also variants of the VF-31 Chaos deploys?" Shiro asks.

"Well, yes, but as far as I know, only Delta Platoon flies the VF-31 Siegfried, everyone else flies the VF-31A, which is the mass produced model. The VF-25 had a base model, a recon variant, a sniper variant, an air superiority variant, and a commander variant. Granted, our Siegfrieds also follow that pattern except for the sniper variant, but they're not modded for conflicts on the scale that the VF-25 saw action in. Also, HayaHaya and MiraMira fly support variants to, well, support us." Seeing Shiro nod, she continues. "I'll be honest Shiro, I can't cover everything. Unfortunately, you're gonna be somewhat in the dark going in."

Shiro nods, eyes half-clouded in thought. "I understand. Thank you for the information."

Makina frowns. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you more."

Shiro looks up, his face as stoic as ever. "Do not worry about it. I know that I seldom have all the information I will need; I will make do with what is available to me."

Kaname, Mikumo, and Freyja look at him with mixed expressions.

"Aren't you worried?" Kaname asks, concern etched on her face.

"You don't seem concerned in the slightest." Mikumo adds, no different.

"Shiro-san, I know you're capable, but-" Freyja quietly shifts.

"Do not mistake my calmness for arrogance. I am well aware of the risks involved with going into situations with insufficient intelligence. However, I have been in such a situation before, so it is better not to dwell on it for too long."

Makina and Reina pout at Shiro, who doesn't react to their puffed cheeks and slightly narrowed eyes. He pulls out a data pad from behind him and begins to type on it. As he types, he hears a huff and looks up to see Freyja pouting at him. He then turns to Kaname, who is frowning at him, although her frown resembled a pout. Shiro then turns to Mikumo, who is wearing a neutral face.

"Is there something I did to bother them?" Shiro asks nonchalantly.

"You should really consider our feelings, Shiro." Mikumo notes with a hint of heat in her voice.

Shiro was about to ask why, but stops when he sees Mikumo begin to pout at him. Scanning the room to see all five members of Walkure pouting at him in their respective ways causes Shiro's eyes to widen briefly as he recalls a memory. He suddenly leans forward just enough to hide his face while putting a hand over his mouth. His shoulders begin to shake subtly, but just enough for Walkure to notice. Before they can ask if he is okay, a sound begins to emanate from him, one that surprises all of them. A low chuckle turned into an audible laugh that made Mikumo and Freyja flinch slightly. As quickly as it began, his laugh subsided as he leaned back slightly, revealing the smile on his face. It was neither a large toothy grin nor was it a thin smile; it was in between the two, and while the other four members of Walkure were simply shocked by the turn of events, Mikumo tensed as she felt her chest tighten slightly. She almost didn't notice the heat rising to her cheeks as Shiro sat back, using his left arm to support himself and the right to rub his left shoulder.

Shiro exhales softly. "I don't know how anyone is supposed to take any of you seriously when you all make a face like that." His smile turns into thin grin as he looks at the singers sitting before him.

For a moment, none of the girls did anything except gape slightly at him.

"Y-you laughed..." Reina mutters.

"Again..." Makina quietly adds.

"Really now, Shiro." Kaname rubs her temples before smiling gently.

Shiro raises an eyebrow ever so slightly. "You act like you saw two stars collide."

Freyja smiles, playfulness evident. "Mikumo-san looks like she's seeing stars, Shiro-san."

Shiro turns to Mikumo to find her staring at him, her lips parted almost invisibly, light pink dusting her cheeks. He gently puts his hand on hers, causing the violet-haired singer to stiffen and let out a near inaudible squeak as her eyes snap to his. Only Shiro and Freyja hear the sound escape Mikumo's lips, and while Shiro tensed after hearing a sound that one would expect to hear from Freyja come from Mikumo, Freyja smirked at her senior in singing.

"Is something wrong, Mikumo-san?" Freyja grins widely at Mikumo, who shivers at seeing the large and admittedly creepy smile on Freyja's face.

"N-no, I'm fine." Mikumo replies, the blush fading as Shiro removed his hand from hers. The feeling of his warmth replaced with the cool of the room made her feel hollow, similar to before the incident on Voldor.

Shiro was going to comment, but the ship's intercom buzz cut him off.

 _"Captain Okumura, please report to hangar A2. Repeat, Captain Okumura, report to hangar A2."_

Shiro briefly showed mild surprise before turning to Walkure. "It appears I am needed. Remember what I told you; save those devices until you absolutely have to use them." The hint of concern betrayed his calm demeanor. Shiro walks out, followed by Walkure.

All of them nod, serious looks on their faces. The seriousness on their face quickly melt away into soft, expectant smiles.

"You better keep us safe, Shiroshiro!" Makina makes a peace sign.

Reina adds her fingers to make the 'W'. "Don't let the others outdo you."

Kaname gently nudges Reina before turning to Shiro. "Take care out there. This is your first fighter battle in space, isn't it?"

Shiro nods. "Yes, it is. Hayate already gave me some warning."

"We'll be counting on you, Shiro-san." Freyja tilts her head as she puts her hands behind her back.

Shiro couldn't resist a light smile at the sunny Windermerean girl. "I will do my best."

Without a word, the four of them went inside the changing room, leaving Mikumo alone in the hall with Shiro.

Mikumo fidgets slightly, her cheeks the same color as the gel on her body. She looks up at him, concern plastered on her face. Before she can say anything, Shiro gently wraps an arm around her side and pulls her in close. Mikumo instinctively opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out; her body refused to resist. Shiro then put a hand on the back of her shoulders, keeping her close to him. Mikumo slowly moved her hands on Shiro's chest, despite her body being so close to Shiro's. Mikumo turns her head slightly to look at Shiro as he released her slightly. Their eyes met, and Mikumo silently took in a breath in a futile attempt to stem the pace of her racing heart.

"Mikumo." Shiro softly whispers to the violet-haired singer.

Mikumo shivers with an emotion she'd never felt before. "Y-yes, Shiro?"

"Are you scared?" Shiro looks at her intently.

Mikumo glances away briefly before her crimson eyes return to Shiro's onyx eyes. "I am."

Shiro's calm demeanor melts to reveal a glimmer in his eyes that Mikumo had neither seen before nor had expected to see in his eyes. "About this battle?"

Mikumo's voice quivers slightly as she buries her face in Shiro's shoulder. "I normally don't think too hard about this..."

Shiro gently begins running his hand through Mikumo's lengthy violet hair. "In all honesty, I'm worried about your safety more than anything else right now."

Mikumo tilts her head up to look at him. "You aren't worried about how the battle's going to go?"

Shiro's expression creases into a small frown. "That is a part of my concern; my other largest concern is how I will perform. I can't be another burden the others with my shortcomings."

"What shortcomings?" Mikumo quietly retorts.

Shiro looks at her, finding no signs of sarcasm or humor. He smirks briefly before regaining his stoic composure. "Even I have my weaknesses and faults, Mikumo. If I truly had no shortcomings, none of you would have been injured since the time I became a member of Delta Platoon. Amongst other things..." His face falls slightly until he feels a soft, smooth hand caress his cheek.

"Shiro, nobody's perfect, and as far as I know, you can't teleport anywhere whenever you want. To be honest, I'm almost glad that you couldn't save me from getting hurt recently; it opened my eyes to the reality of what I do for a living. Up until recently, I never considered the risks of being on stage." Seeing Shiro's eyes widen briefly, she wraps her arms around his neck, bringing the two of them ever closer together. "Don't get me wrong, my passion for singing and feeling the wind hasn't and probably will never go out; I just won't chase that feeling like a blind, ignorant child."

Shiro smiles at her, although this time, there was a hint of playfulness in it that made Mikumo's heart skip a beat. "Well, by age alone, you are technically a child."

Mikumo pauses to register Shiro's words before her smile turned into a pout. Shiro chuckled quietly; Mikumo's pout turned into a look of curiosity as she met his eyes again.

"Speaking of which, how old are you, Shiro?" Mikumo's eyes focused on Shiro's with intent.

"Mikumo, a lot of my personal information is going to have to stay private." Seeing Mikumo frown, he continues. "What I choose to tell you must stay between the two of us, for reasons I can't yet explain."

Mikumo nods.

Shiro exhales softly. "If you read my application profile, it says I'm 22. The truth is, I have been conscious for approximately 15 years now, soon to be 16."

Mikumo's eyes widen at hearing this. "You're a bit younger than Hayate."

"Correct. Having said this, I think it's obvious to anyone who knows my real age that I didn't have anything close to what can be considered a normal childhood. Quite the opposite, actually; my early and intermediate life has comprised mostly of violent bloodshed, greed, betrayal, and pain; hence why I keep it a secret." Shiro's onyx eyes narrowed to reveal a tumultuous storm swirling in them.

"I...I didn't mean to bring up something uncomfortable for you, Shiro-" Mikumo quietly says before Shiro gently tucked her in his arms, more firmly this time. A soft squeak escapes her as her eyes bulge at being cradled by her otherwise unemotional guardian.

"It's fine, Mikumo. It seems, we are more alike than we realized. The reason I'm telling you this is because I don't want you to experience what I have. You deserve to experience a life that won't destroy everything and everyone you hold dear. That's why, despite all the stress it causes you,having your world turned upside down by a reality check is the best thing that could've happened to you." Shiro releases her enough for her to lock eyes with him, and instead of a dark pain emanating from his eyes, there was a dark glimmer of hope in them. Instead of relief, Mikumo's heart panged; she felt both immense hope and a complete lack thereof coming from Shiro's eyes.

Mikumo clenched her fingers as she held them on Shiro's shoulders. Ignoring the fact that her body screamed for more contact, Mikumo fixates her gaze on her bodyguard. "Shiro, has anyone in your life cared about you the way you care about me?"

Shiro's eyes widen slightly at seeing Mikumo manage to be both inexplicably attractive and cute while being sincerely serious about him. "If such a person existed, I have not met him or her yet. I do not expect people to care about me, usually it is expected to be the reverse. It is something I have long since grown accustomed to." His arms dropped from her body; Mikumo wrapped her arms around his neck.

Mikumo frowns slightly. "No one's ever told you they were happy to see you? That being with you made them happy? That life without you would be sad? That they simply enjoyed your presence, however minimal?"

Shiro shakes his head as he puts a small distance between himself and Mikumo. "No, none of those; I suppose I do not know what it is like to live with people who appreciate and/or enjoy me or my presence. However, I still have had people who I would still consider my friends, or at the very least, comrades." Shiro's face darkens. _"If they aren't cursing me in whatever afterlife exists."_ He thought darkly. Shiro is pulled from his thoughts by Mikumo pushing herself closer to him.

"Shiro, I want you to know, right here, right now, that I fully appreciate everything you have done, and everything you will do for me." She pauses to gently kiss his cheek before snuggling her head close to his neck. "So, in return, allow me to be the important person in your life beyond the simple bodyguard contract." Shiro's eyes had widened more than ever before, and Mikumo couldn't help but enjoy the sight of pure shock on the normally composed bodyguard.

With that, Mikumo released herself from Shiro, an alluring and attractive smile on her face. She took a step back when Shiro's arm suddenly shot out, grabbed her wrist and gently but firmly yanked her back into his arms. Mikumo's eyes bulged as she quickly realized they were a mere inch away from Shiro's. Despite being aware of Shiro's arms wrapped snugly around her waist and just under her arms, she felt herself melt into his arms. The heat that burned her cheeks ran throughout her body, multiplied by the realization that their foreheads were touching. They closed their eyes and remained in the same position for a minute. They opened their eyes, confirming their mutual, undeniable attraction.

 _"Captain Okumura, please report to hangar A2."_

Shiro sighs, his desire to remain with Mikumo obvious. Reluctantly, he separates from her, but not before gently kissing her on her forehead. The star singer responded with one of her own on Shiro's cheek. They shared a look of understanding before going their separate ways. Mikumo walked back into the changing room to find the other members of Walkure waiting for her, their usual outfits displayed.

Kaname puts a hand on her hips, a knowing smile on her face. "What took you so long?"

Mikumo pauses briefly, debating on whether or not to tell them the events of the previous ten minutes. "We talked."

"And?" Makina and Reina ask simultaneously.

Mikumo smiles, pink dusting her cheeks. "He teased me."

Freyja's face forms one of her unique smiles. "Ship confirmed."

Mikumo and Kaname both look at the Windermerean singer. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Makina puts a hand on Freyja's shoulder. "Fre-Fre, you shouldn't break the fourth wall like that."

"What are you talking about?" Kaname looks at Mikumo, who smiles and changes into her signature Walkure outfit.

"Everyone's got their own mysteries, Kaname. Perhaps it is best not to dwell on it too long." Mikumo said cryptically.

"Still the Mysterious Venus, as always, huh Mikumo?" Kaname chuckles quietly.

Meanwhile, Shiro was walking toward the elevator to the flight deck when a familiar voice entered his thoughts.

 _Did you do that to spite me?_

Shiro exhaled softly, responding in his mind. _"To what exactly are you referring to, Star Singer?"  
_

The voice of the Star Singer huffed. _You know exactly what I'm talking about. The kiss._

Shiro smirked, both in his mind and in reality. _"To be honest, it was both."_ Shiro's face turns composed. _"My affection for her is genuine, and you've been in my mind long enough to confirm this. As for you being against it, I do not believe you are in any position to do anything about it."_

Another huff. _You are a lot more blunt in your mind than when you interact with others._

 _"Not really; I could go on to explain how, despite having mind control abilities, you still cannot gain a modicum of control over my mind, and that leads to me doing whatever I please, but the truth is, in my mind, I am very much straight to the point. I thought you would appreciate this."_

 _I can read your thoughts, so right now, it just comes off as rude._

 _"What's rude is entering someone else's mind and making yourself at home in it. Any normal person's mind would've been shattered by the amount of mental processing power it would take for one mind to house two fully unique consciousnesses. What's more, not telling the person whose mind you've entered until after you've already done so. "_

 _You are not wrong, however, I did not have a choice. Not only that, but for whatever reason, your mind seems to have a large quantity of excess space. Enough to hold not only my consciousness and memories, but yours as well._

 _"You know, it would be most helpful if you could tell me why you had to move from Mikumo's mind to mine; wouldn't it be easier to help her learn about her abilities if you were still in her mind rather than mine?"_ Shiro was approaching the door to the hangar by this point.

 _I would, but judging by the way things are going right now, I doubt I will have enough time to fully explain._

 _"Then just give me the short version."_

 _Not everything can be condensed so easily._

 _"Everything can be condensed. Obviously, there will be details that need further explanation, but I need a concrete reason as to why you've jumped ship into my mind for a reason other than for amusement."_

 _Fine. Long story short, Mikumo's personality wasn't supposed to become its own; it was supposed to merge with me, and because it didn't, me staying in her mind could have had resulted in both of our personalities fracturing. The confliction between our personalities is too much for her physical brain to handle right now. Maybe in time, we can merge._

 _"If the two of you merge, will the Mikumo everyone here knows still be present?"_

 _If we had merged earlier, no. However, at this point, and because of your actions, her personality is her own. Therefore, if we merge, both of us will still be present in everyday actions. That is a distant future, however, and we must focus on the present. For now, I will help your body in dealing with her._

Shiro stopped at hearing this, although to the personnel around him, it looked like he was waiting for the door to open. _"What?"_

 _The materials that make up your muscles and bones, they do not resonate well with Mikumo and Walkure's singing. By now, you should understand that they can transmit their thoughts and feelings through their singing._

 _"That much, I understand."_

 _Each feeling and thought has its own specific wavelength that causes vibrations through whatever it comes into contact with-materials, air, space, and so forth. Most of the time, it is harmless._

 _"And for me?"_

 _A few specific wavelengths could cause your bones to shatter, and your muscles to liquefy. Said wavelengths are connected to their feelings towards you, primarily negative feelings, but in general, strong feelings. Even the two weakest singers of Walkure are capable of incapacitating you, which should terrify you, comparing them to Mikumo._

Shiro had since entered the hangar to find Arad and Chuck next to each other, their respective Siegfrieds behind them. Chuck's had mechanics rushing left and right, bringing replacement super parts for his damaged Siegfried. Arad's Siegfried had the two super boosters suspended on chains above it, in the process of being installed.

 _"As concerning as that is, I do not anticipate any of Walkure to have any negative feelings towards me. Unfortunately, this has only raised many more questions for me, but we do not have the time to discuss any more. I suppose I'll have to trust you for now."_

 _Indeed. Because, for all intents and purposes, you are my host, I will not negatively impact you. Intentionally, that is. I also do not have the intention of controlling you; Mikumo seems to like you a lot, and if I'm being honest..._ A sigh sounds in Shiro's mind, and the bodyguard mentally nodded.

 _"I will not force you to do or say anything, Star Singer. Like I mentioned earlier, you have been in my mind long enough to know what kind of person I am and some understanding of my intentions. I think it would be beneficial to both of us if we avoided any and all pointless conflicts."_

Taking the silence as agreement, Shiro walks over to Arad and Chuck, who are engaged in a conversation. Upon reaching them, they turn and look at him with straight faces.

"Shiro, you're a bit late." Arad says to the stoic bodyguard.

"Apologies, Major. I was inspecting the stage module that Walkure uses to perform in from the Aether."

"You weren't putting any hidden cameras in there, were you?" Chuck asks with a strange grin.

"Even if I did have the intention of hiding a camera in the module, there are no places to hide a camera, as the entire upper module is transparent." Shiro replies, unfazed.

"Hey Shiro?" Chuck cocks his head towards Shiro.

"What is it?" Shiro, despite having a stoic expression, had a subtle air of annoyance around him.

"Are you straight?" Chuck had a straight face that rivaled Shiro's.

 _"What is he talking about?"_ Shiro thought to himself. Before he could answer, the Star Singer spoke softly, her voice trembling slightly.

 _He's asking if your... sexual preference is women..._

 _"...seriously?"_

"Yes, Chuck, I am straight." Shiro answers, half hoping he sounded normal, half wanting to slug the Ragnan pilot.

"You sure don't show it." Chuck scoffs, a grin on his face.

Before Shiro can retort, Arad clears his throat, grabbing the pilot and bodyguard's attention. "Shiro, I called you here because we've got a situation developing with the ISDF's carrier group. More Apex battleships folded in and they're getting boxed in."

Shiro faced Arad. "There must be a substantial amount of them to be able to block the ISDF's carrier group."

Arad nods. "Between the the Apex fleet's lanes of fire, and the flak from the ISDF's ships, it's too dangerous for the Aether to attempt to dock with the Enterprise without getting torn up."

"Which means, I will have to find another way to acquire a fighter." Shiro looks down slightly, in thought.

"Naturally. However, I worked out a way to get you airborne, if you're up for it." Arad says levelly.

Shiro tilts his head slightly. "Why do you say that as though I would not be?"

"Because you won't be able to stay on the Aether. You'll have to use the ISDF's stealth shuttle to get to the Enterprise for the reasons aforementioned." Arad says as an elevator lowers next to them, revealing the same geometric shaped hull of the stealth shuttle previously seen, though the shuttle itself was considerably smaller, just enough to fit in the ready bays for Siegfrieds and Kairos. The door opens to reveal two ISDF personnel; a male officer of average height with brown hair and dark brown eyes, and a female enlisted soldier with blue hair and green eyes. The two walk over to Shiro, both of them saluting Shiro, who salutes them back out of necessity.

"I am 2nd Lieutenant Alex Richards, and this is is Sergeant First Class Jane Smith. Captain Okumura, we have been ordered to escort you to hangar 11 on the Enterprise."

Shiro nods. "Understood. Is there a fighter prepared for me to pilot?"

Smith hums. "Sir, by the time we arrive on the Enterprise, the crews should have your fighter ready."

"What fighter has been prepared for me?" Shiro asks as he nods to Arad and Chuck before turning towards the shuttle.

"From what the mechanics described, I believe that they are preparing a standard issue VF-30 for your use, Captain." Richards says as they near the shuttle. The door opens, and Richards motions for Shiro to walk in first. Smith waits by the door as Shiro boards the shuttle.

Shiro nods. As the doors close, Smith enters the cockpit and the hum of the engines starting fills the cabin. As the elevator rises to launch deck, Richards eyes Shiro cautiously. Sensing his gaze, Shiro looks towards the Lieutenant.

"Is there something on your mind, Lieutenant?" Shiro asks without any emotion.

Richards exhales before looking at Shiro. "Yes, Captain. If I may be so bold, I would like to ask a few questions for you."

"We have some time on our hands before we arrive at the Enterprise, so you may as well." Shiro remained stoic.

Richards glances at the swords on Shiro's back, the tiniest glint of blue visible from behind him. "Those are swords, correct?"

Shiro frowned inwardly. "Yes, these are swords."

 _"What is it about everyone asking if the large, blade-shaped objects on my back are swords?"_

 _It seems, the notion that someone using a blade larger than a knife in the day and age where ranged firearms are more common baffles most people._ The Star Singer sounded similarly annoyed as Shiro was.

 _"Apparently."_

Richards leans forward slightly. "Do you use those swords in combat?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. I use swords in combat, and I am quite proficient at doing so." Shiro's eyes narrow slightly.

Richards seemed to catch on to Shiro's annoyance. "Sorry, sir. I just did not expect an officer such as yourself to be skilled in close quarters combat and at the same time. It is something of a rare occurrence. That, and your choice of weapon for that instance, on top of being unexpected, is also rather unique."

"Are Captains Masaki and Takamura as proficient in close quarters combat as they are as pilots?" Shiro questions the lieutenant out of curiosity and annoyance.

Richards' eyes widened briefly. "Well, as far as I know, sir, I believe they are, on top of being respectable marksmen, er women."

"Then why does my having swords surprise you when you already know of two ISDF captains who have similar circumstances as my own?"

 _Shiro, don't you think you're being a little harsh?_

"I don't know, sir. I just don't know of anyone who uses swords other than Captain Takamura, and she, along with Captain Masaki, are among a small group of people who actually use something other than a combat knife for close engagements."

 _"This can hardly be considered harsh, Star Singer. For starters, I am not angry so much as curious as to what people think when they see me. I do not care for their opinions, but it certainly helps to know how people view me before I interact with them."_

"Lieutenant, there is nothing wrong with having a curious mind. What's important is the process by which you satisfy your curiosity."

"Sir?"

"In short, being direct with your questions is not always the best way to get information from others. Sometimes, it may come off as rude or blunt to a fault. Keep that in mind for the future." Shiro explains.

"Yes sir." Richards seemed to be processing Shiro's words.

 _The rate at which you process information before acting on it is both amazing and downright terrifying._

 _"Depending on how long you stay in my mind, you'll come to see that this speed is normal for me. If you haven't already figured it out, obviously."_

"Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Takamura is contacting us from the Arcadia." Smith calls out from the cockpit.

Shiro looks at Richards, who returns his gaze.

"Who did he say he wanted?" Shiro asks the sergeant.

"He didn't specify, sir." Smith doesn't turn her gaze from the cockpit's windows.

Shiro glances at Richards before getting up to answer Ryu's call. "Lieutenant Colonel Takamura? This is Captain Okumura."

There is a pause before the comm picks up Ryu's voice. "Captain, confirm your status."

"I am currently being escorted by 2nd Lieutenant Richards and Sergeant First Class Smith to hangar 11 on the Enterprise." Shiro looks at Smith. "What is our ETA to the Enterprise?"

Smith taps a button on the console between her flight controls. "Our ETA is 5 minutes, sir."

Shiro nods. "Lieutenant Colonel, our ETA is 5 minutes. What is the situation of the Enterprise?"

"The Enterprise is under heavy assault from the Apex fleet. We're keeping their battleships at bay with our fighter squadrons, but several of their fighter squadrons have broken through our defense lines and are attacking the carrier."

"Are the carriers still functional, Lieutenant Colonel?"

A nearby explosion echoes through the comm before Ryu responds. "The Lionheart and Arcadia have only sustained minor damage, but the Enterprise's damage is getting worse the longer she stays separated from the rest of the fleet. By the way, once you get to hangar 11, there should be a flight engineer by the name of Vlad Iosef. He'll get you set up with a new bird."

The sound of gunfire and explosions rattle the shuttle; Shiro looks out the canopy and sees the Enterprise, the space around the sizable carrier blanketed with explosions and tracers. In the distance, Shiro could make out The delta wings of the VF-30s contrasted the arrow-shaped silhouettes of the VF-171s dogfighting with them. There was the occasional VF-31A darting around the battle space, but Shiro did not see any VF-31 Siegfrieds among them. Shiro made note of the multiple fires that had broken out on the nearest corner flight deck, some of them housing what appeared to be the wrecks of variable fighters, some VF-30s, most others VF-171s.

"Can the Enterprise hold out like this, Lieutenant Colonel?" Shiro asks as he scans the carrier. They were getting very close, and Shiro tensed subtly at how close some of the Enterprise's tracers got to the shuttle.

"Major Barchenowa is in command of the Enterprise; I know she'll be able to hold out, but the faster we get the Hammer of Sol to link up within the Enterprise's battle space and get the two joined with the rest of our fleet, the better."

"Speaking of which, do you know the statuses of Delta Platoon and/or the Hammer of Sol? I have not heard much from either." The shuttle jolts slightly as Smith slows it down, the shuttle nearing one of the expansive hangars.

"All members of Delta Platoon are alive, and their Siegfrieds functional. Major Molders has been coordinating with myself and Major Barchenowa, and I've been informed that they've successfully joined up with the Hammer. The two ships should be nearing the Enterprise soon enough. As for the Hammer of Sol, I have not been informed of any significant damage, so right now, it looks like the Enterprise's seen the worst of it."

Shiro turns his attention to the hangar, taking note of the large number 11 painted on the inside wall, seeing the crew members running back and forth, some pulling trolleys of parts to and from the ends of the hangar. The shuttle rumbles as it touches down.

"All things considered, I think things are going as well as could be expected, Lieutenant Colonel. We have arrived at hangar 11. I will update you and Major Molders when I have launched." Shiro says before exiting the shuttle. As he turns to exit, Smith calls out to him.

"Sir, you should take this." She hands him an earpiece.

Shiro takes it and puts it in his ear as Richards puts one in his ear. "These have been synced to be able to connect to both ISDF comm lines and Xaos comm lines. You should be able to contact Delta Platoon or anyone you'll need to contact. I don't imagine you'll be needing it since you'll be getting into a fighter soon enough, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

Shiro nods. "I agree. Do either of you know where I can find Vlad Iosef?"

"Da, he is here."

Shiro turns toward the voice and sees an aged man with sharp, blue eyes, gray hair and a similarly colored beard walking towards him. Despite the facial hair and obvious age, the man still had well kept hair and reasonably well-toned muscles. Vlad stopped a few feet from Shiro and eyed the bodyguard.

"You are the pilot who lost his first bird after a few hours of flying it?" Vlad spoke with a thick, heavy accent that Shiro didn't recognize.

Shiro maintained his expressionless state as he spoke. "Yes, I was shot down, and I need a new fighter."

"I don't really care about the circumstances, I just need to know whether or not you care about the fighter you fly. I'm not fixing birds just so people can crash them and expect another to be handed to them." Vlad says with a firm expression.

"If you mean to ask if I care about maintaining the fighter I fly, then yes, I do indeed care about the fighter I fly. I understand how costly a variable fighter can be, and I respect those who put in their efforts to maintain them." Shiro says calmly.

Vlad looks at Shiro carefully, no doubt assessing whether or not he meant what he said. After a minute, Vlad hums. "You really don't seem like the type to waste resources so carelessly. Come, the Major told me to have a fighter prepared for you, though that might change, depending on the circumstances."

Shiro glances at Smith and Richards, mild surprise on their faces. "I was not informed I had a choice in the matter; I also am neither in any position to to be particular, nor do I have any intention to be. My squadmates are currently fighting without me, and I have no intention of letting that situation continue for any longer than it needs to."

Vlad chuckles as they begin walking, his voice rumbling. "You sound just like one of my comrades from way back when. Always mission first, huh?"

Shiro answers without hesitation. "For all intents and purposes, Walkure is my mission."

Vlad chuckles again, this time haughtier. "All five of those women? Or just one of them?"

Shiro almost stops, an action that Vlad noticed, despite having his back to the composed bodyguard. "That is...complicated."

"Such is life with women." Vlad chortles quietly, ignoring Smith's glare on the back of his head. "I'm sure you know, even if your face and body language are neutral, you aren't, and people can figure out what you're hiding with little issue. So tell me, what's it like, being the one who has the responsibility and privilege of attending to Mikumo Guynemer personally?"

Shiro narrows his eyes at the grizzly mechanic. "To begin with, making that kind of information public would only invite conflict, as everyone in Delta Platoon protects all of Walkure, regardless of any relationships with the latter. If it were to be made known that someone in Delta Platoon was prioritizing a specific member of Walkure over the rest, I have no doubt that someone would incite a conflict over which member of Walkure is superior over the other because of this favoritism from a Delta Platoon pilot. That is contradictory to what Walkure is and should be: a team."

Vlad glances at Shiro out of the corner of his eye, his expression neutral. "Do you honestly believe that?"

Shiro doesn't hesitate for a second. "Yes, I do. Call it naivety, if you will; I simply believe the current dynamic of Walkure is the best out of all existing possibilities."

"It is not naivety if you understand there are other possibilities that may or may not be better than what currently exists." Vlad says quietly. "You also did not answer my question, Captain."

Shiro's frown stays on his face briefly. "Do you talk in this manner to other officers of similar or higher rank than myself?"

Vlad snorted near inaudibly. "Do you consider yourself an officer similar to the existing ones such as Captain Takamura or Captain Murasaki? Don't take my behavior as one of disrespect, Captain; I just know when rank is earned, a formality, or a special circumstance."

"And what do you believe I am?" Shiro asks as they near a separate hangar block within the massive space.

"You carry swords and are the personal bodyguard of arguably the most enigmatic and beautiful woman in existence. I don't doubt you have extensive combat experience, but let's be honest here. That rank of yours is just for operational independence pertaining to her, isn't it?"

Shiro exhales quietly. "I cannot believe a part of me actually wishes for people to be dense. If things like this can be figured out with a moderate amount of assumption and inference, I fear my most important secrets and information will not stay as such."

Vlad chuckles again. "Not everyone is as attentive as I am; this comes with the job of being a mechanic. If you can't pay attention to detail worth a damn, someone could die because of it."

Shiro glances at Vlad briefly. "This line of work emphasizes a considerable amount of interdependence; you should not hold yourself accountable if you do everything physically possible in your power, yet others die because they did not. If you do, you will certainly regret it later on."

Vlad turns his head just enough to look at Shiro, youth and seniority present in his eyes. "You sound like the voice of experience."

Shiro's eyes narrow slightly. "I sometimes wish I was not."

Vlad sighs as he turns around, a somber expression on his face. "I get that feeling often."

They reach the separate hangar block, where two bays are visible, one open, one closed. The open bay contains the sleek, sliver with red trimmed VF-30 that Shiro had seen flying around.

Shiro looks to Vlad, who nods. "It's yours. Try not to wreck it."

"I will try my best not to." Shiro then looks around. "Is there a suit I can borrow?"

Richards runs over to Shiro. "Captain, there should be a suit in the room to the left of the bay. I highly recommend you get changed as fast as possible; I've received word that Apex fighters are pushing our defense lines back."

Shiro was about to respond when a buzz in his ear grabs his attention. "Hello?"

"Captain Okumura?" Illya's voice raised through the earpiece. "What is your status? Have you reached the hangar?"

"Yes, Major. I have reached hangar 11, and have met with mechanic Iosef. I am about to get equipped and get ready for launch."

"Negative, Captain. Get everyone in that bay out of there, ASAP."

"Major?" Shiro tilts his head towards Smith and Richards, wondering if they were picking up on this, their expressions confused.

Shiro quickly went stiff at hearing the background chatter.

 _"Impact imminent! Collision point, hangar 11, block D-2!"_

 _"ETC, 1 minute!"_

 _"Carrier unit 3 shield strength at 25%! It won't deflect the ship!"_

 _"Have we evacuated all personnel from the deck?!"_

 _"Negative, Captain Okumura and Flight Engineer Iosef are still present, along with at least 50 crew members!"_

 _"There's no time-"_

There was static as the entire ship bucked and groaned, the sound of metal screeching filling the hangar block they were in. The rumbling turned into violent shaking, and as Shiro knelt down to steady himself, he turned to see the hull warp and bend until a large, navy blue object with geometric turrets pierced the inner hull. Shiro's eyes widened briefly after recognizing it as a stealth cruiser's hull. Shiro turned around and saw the flight mechanics, Smith, and Richards knocked off their feet, the female sergeant bleeding from the side of her head. Vlad had managed to brace himself against one of the walls, and as his gaze met Shiro's, an audible whirring sound made them both turn. What greeted them, was arguably the worst case scenario. Of the two turrets visible on the cruiser's hull, the larger one had survived the impact, and was now turning towards Shiro and the impact-shocked crew members behind him.

"Richards, are you injured?." Shiro calls out as he looks around the hangar.

"No, sir." Richards coughs, turning to Smith, who is bleeding from the side of her head.

The same whirring sound causes Shiro to snap his head toward the source. "Get everyone to safety. Now."

With that, Shiro drew both of his swords the moment the turret began firing two beams simultaneously in his general direction. Shiro dashed to a position in front of the downed mechanics and idle fighter, dodging the first 58mm beams being fired by the turret. He looked behind him briefly, counting the duration the beams fired lasted.

 _"The beam's continuous radiation time is more or less 8 seconds."_ Shiro made note of as the beam turret fired again. Shiro was ready this time, positioning his swords in such a way that he would always be able to affect the angle at which the beams made contact with his swords. The moment the beams made contact, Shiro rotated the swords in his hands, his left sword deflecting the beam up towards the ceiling, his right sword deflecting the beam down, burning a stream into the floor.

 _"Approximately 10 seconds between each firing interval."_

Shiro turns towards the crew and personnel behind him. "Richards, is everyone out of harm's way?" He quickly turns and deflects another pair of beams, the left beam deflecting sharply towards a wall parallel to Shiro, the right beam deflecting up, taking out one of the lights on the ceiling.

Richards had just finished pulling an unconscious mechanic out of the general area. The VF-30 sat in the open hangar, completely exposed. "Captain, Flight Engineer Iosef is still present. He is currently arming a guided rocket launcher."

The turret fired another pair of beams, which Shiro quickly deflected at a perpendicular angle to himself.

"Just buy me a couple minutes, some _Mudak_ locked my stuff behind three codes of safeties! _Chert Poberi_! Is this what you call safety?! An accidental discharge is better than being turned into flesh putty any day!" Vlad swears as he furiously mashes codes into a locker with a large case in it.

 _Shiro, the turret's going to fire again!_

 _"Star Singer? How-"_

Shiro turns and is met with a flurry of beams that he barely manages to deflect properly. The first two beams, Shiro instinctively split in half, the outside beams going wide and hitting the walls behind him. The inner beams, Shiro dodged by an uncomfortably close margin, the beams burning through his jacket and searing the left side of his abdomen and his right shoulder. The sword-wielding guardian grit his teeth in a mix of pain and concentration as more beams quickly shot out of the turret, the beams much shorter, but fired considerably faster. Each beam was quickly deflected into random directions, a few hitting the miscellaneous objects scattered throughout the hangar. Shiro coughed as the burst of lasers wound down, a small puff of steam exiting his mouth.

 _Shiro, are you all right? Why can't I feel your pain? I can't help you if you block off information from me!_ The Star Singer assaults Shiro's consciousness with her obvious concerns.

 _"Star Singer, I cut off my senses so you wouldn't feel my pain. As for the lack of information, my mind overclocks to assist and account for my enhanced muscle reflexes; I have to process a substantial amount of information during combat, and constantly having these little conversations with you takes up too much of my mind's processing capabilities, not to mention, my focus."_ Shiro coughs again, another puff of steam exiting his mouth.

"Vlad." Shiro calls out. "I hope you have finished loading that launcher." Shiro doesn't have time to listen for the mechanic's answer, as the beam turret fired again, this time with its original firing pattern. Shiro raises his arms to deflect the beams, but the pain from his shoulder causes his arm to stiffen. Shiro instinctively side-stepped to avoid taking any more damage, but ultimately realized too late that the beam his left arm was supposed to deflect was on a collision course with the fighter he was supposed to fly. The beam hits the engine of his fighter, the intake turning bright orange before warping and exploding. Shiro cursed inwardly, his eyes narrowed and his mouth curled downward. He glances off to the side to see Vlad holding a large box that the mechanic pulls a cover off of, revealing a four-barreled rocket launcher. Vlad wastes no time and aims it directly at the turret, a laser shining on the turret. He fires, four rockets sailing towards the turret before hitting it dead center between the guns. The turret explodes, and as the smoke clears, Vlad exhales a breath of relief at the remains of the turret, a hole blasted clean through its structure. The beam guns mounted on the left and right of the turret were only barely attached to what remained of the structure.

Shiro turns around to look at the remains of the VF-30 that was parked behind him. It was listing sideways, its wing leaning against the floor of the hangar. Its left engine, right from Shiro's perspective, was blown off completely. Half of the rear engine unit remained somewhat intact, but the intake of the fighter was nowhere to be found, presumably annihilated by the beam that hit it. Shiro sheathes his swords, frowning at the moderate pain coming from his side and shoulder and the now disabled fighter.

Shiro walks over to Vlad, who is placing the rocket launcher back into its case. "I hope this does not count as me destroying another fighter, although I would understand if you were to place the responsibility with me."

 _Shiro, don't be ridiculous. The fact that you and everyone behind you is still alive after being shot at by weapons made to destroy fighters and battleships is nothing short of an astounding feat._

 _"It does not change the fact that my only way of providing meaningful assistance to my comrades and actually being able to protect Mikumo and Walkure is now shot, literally."_

Vlad raises an eyebrow at Shiro. "You're seriously asking me that?"

Shiro doesn't get a chance to answer, as the door on the end of the hangar block from which they all entered opens, revealing a dozen-plus soldiers, all in grey combat gear, some armed with rifles, others armed with large rocket launchers similar to the one Vlad had just used. A group of engineers, some pulling large carts of metal panels and tools follows them. All of the soldiers, were led by a male Captain in similar equipment. The captain walks over to Shiro and Vlad. He salutes Shiro, who responds accordingly.

"Captain John Bridges of the 2nd Infantry Assault Corps. I assume you two are Captain Okumura and Flight Engineer Iosef?"

"Da, that would be us. Come to evaluate the damage, sir?" Vlad asks, his tone neutral.

"Yes, that and I have been ordered to check on the statuses of you two and the flight crew that was assigned to this hangar bay." Bridges glances around at the multitude of scorch marks all over the walls and ceiling of the hangar area. "While we wait for the engineers to give me a status report on the hull, I would like a run down of what happened here."

Shiro looks at Vlad briefly before nodding. "Understood. You may find what I will tell you somewhat hard to believe, so I ask that you allow me to bring Flight Engineer Iosef and 2nd Lieutenant Richards with me as cross references."

Bridges glances at Vlad before turning back to Shiro. "That is acceptable. Speaking of him, where is 2nd Lieutenant Richards?"

"Present, sir." Richards says as he walks up to the three of them. "Sorry, sirs, I was helping attend to our the crew injured in the collision."

Bridges nods. "That's fine. While we're on the subject, do we have any casualties?"

"No fatal casualties, sir. The most severe injury was sustained by Sergeant First Class Smith, who sustained a minor head injury and slight bleeding from the head. All other personnel have minor injuries, the most common being a small level of shellshock."

Bridges sighs a quiet breath of relief. "Thank god."

One of the ship's engineers runs up to Bridges with a data pad in her hands. "Captain, we've assessed the damage."

"And?"

The engineer breathes quietly. "It's not bad compared to what could've happened; the cruiser's hull hit this carrier unit at such an angle that decompression won't occur until either the cruiser pulls out, which it won't due to its complete loss of engine power, or until the adjacent 80 meters of hull sustain enough damage to compromise the integrity."

"That small an area? Who ran the calculations?"

"Specialist Bridges did, sir."

Bridges pinches the bridge of his nose. "As much as the information seems off, she's never been wrong before, has she?"

A small smile graces the engineer's face. "No sir, she hasn't; I'll ask her to run the calculations again, if that would ease your worries."

Bridges scoffs. "She's going to give me hell for asking, but have her run it again. I'll bite the bullet for you guys."

"Thank you sir." The engineer salutes before turning around and jogging back to the warped section of hull.

"Now then, since both the Lieutenant and Flight Engineer are present, would you mind telling me what happened down here, Captain?"

Shiro nods. "No, I would not. Before the collision, I was being escorted by 2nd Lieutenant Richards and Sergeant First Class Smith to meet with Flight Engineer Iosef to get suited up and readied for launch in a VF-30 Chronos managed by Flight Engineer Iosef."

Bridges glances at the two, seeing both of them nod, he looks back to Shiro. "And what happened when the stealth cruiser collided with this carrier unit?"

"Of all the personnel present, only Flight Engineer Iosef and myself were able to avoid any serious repercussions from the cruiser's collision, and that was when the two of us noticed the enemy's cruiser still had an active beam turret that survived the collision."

"And this beam turret fired upon you and the nearby crews?"

"That is correct."

"Then how do you explain all these?" Bridges motions to the numerous scorch marks pointed in various directions all over the hangar area.

"I attempted to deflect all of the beams fired by the turret away from the crews, who were still somewhat incapacitated at this point." Shiro glances at the disabled fighter behind them. "I managed to protect the crew members, at the expense of the fighter I was assigned."

Bridges' face emanated skepticism, a scowl on his face. "That really is hard to believe. You mean to tell me, you managed to deflect 58mm laser beams from an active stealth cruiser turret long enough for Flight Engineer Iosef to unlock a restricted ordnance launcher?"

"With all due respect, sir, Captain Okumura not only protected all of the crew members, including myself, he also stalled for enough time to allow Flight Engineer Iosef to destroy the turret." Richards adds, his voice tense.

"Calm down, Richards. It's not like he didn't warn me beforehand, it's just..." Bridges glances around once more at the scorch marks all over the hangar. "You really are impressive, Captain Okumura. Your feats have not gone unnoticed, and while I honestly thought they were stretched further than a mile long rubber band, I see now the stories were probably understating your abilities."

Shiro shifts slightly. "Respectfully, I appreciate the compliment, but there are things I need to attend to, if at all possible." Shiro looks between Bridges and Vlad. "Are there any other fighters available for my use? I would not like to lay idle while my comrades are fighting a battle on this scale."

Bridges glances at Vlad, who shrugs. "Give us a minute, Captain. Iosef, with me" Bridges walks far enough away with Vlad so Shiro couldn't hear them.

Richards looks at Shiro. "Sir, are you really okay? I saw you get burned by those lasers you cut in half."

Shiro shifts his shoulders, testing the way they felt. "If I manage to get a fighter, my injuries will not be a problem. My lower abdomen may have required attention if the beam had gotten any closer, but between you and me, my body heals much faster than normal people's bodies do, so I am not worried too much about it."

Shiro's shoulder, while visibly burned, neither looked serious nor was serious. His lower abdomen, on the other hand, looked worse; his otherwise normal skin tone was replaced a small but noticeable patch of grey, the edges of the patch flush with the hole in his jacket.

Richards didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything further. A minute passed before Vlad and Bridges returned, neutral expressions on their faces.

"Captain Okumura, there is a fighter available that you can fly, but it is...a special circumstance." Bridges hesitates slightly. "Follow us."

"How do you feel about flying an older-generation fighter that's been souped up like a child taking a shot of vodka for the first time and becoming a man?" Vlad asks, a grin breaking out on his face as they walk toward a hangar bay a couple doors down from the disabled Chronos.

Shiro tilts his head to the side slightly. "If it can perform on a level that is on par with or exceeds what our enemies are flying, I will take it."

Vlad's grin widens as they reach the bay. "She can do a hell of a lot more than what those cheese wedges flying out there can do."

As Bridges punches in a code, the doors open to reveal a VF-25 with an armor pack, but with noticeable differences. The arms had built-in mounts for gunpods, and as such, both arms had what appeared to be a modified gatling gunpod mounted. Shiro also made note of the armor parts being a similar color as the rest of the ISDF fleet. While certain areas of the armored parts were normally black, this VF-25's armored parts were an almost chromatic silver; the sharp red of the remainder of the parts made Shiro frown inwardly at how much the fighter stood out, even in comparison to the VF-30 that used to be next to it. Shiro didn't know this, but the armored pack of the VF-25 was also considerably different than the previous armored pack. The 3D booster nozzles on the rear of the booster were a geometric shape, rather than a circular shape. The heat sinks of the armored booster were the same size as a normal Armored VF-25, but the booster itself was larger, the lower front of each accommodating a higher caliber anti-ship beam turret; the rear of the booster also protruded past the tip of the fighter's base engine exhausts. The central fuselage missile packs had an ISDF YF-25 inscription on it, and there was no antenna behind said missile packs. The piece of armor behind the head unit stood out more, along with small boosters on the dorsal side of the engines. The larger, wing-mounted missile launchers also carried slightly more missiles, each containing four more than the standard 30. One of the largest differences was the presence of what appeared to be rails on both sides of the dorsal fuselage. The other massive difference was the presence of an angled piece of fold quartz embedded in the chest armor on either side. Shiro looked at the fighter with obvious interest, something Vlad quickly took notice of.

"Isn't she a beauty?" Vlad smiles with pride as he, Bridges, and Shiro gaze at the modified, armored beast of a VF-25.

"I admit, this looks very appealing. What are its armaments?" Shiro asks, his eyes never leaving the fighter.

"Two 55mm, 5-barreled gatling gunpods. Each with 750 Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot rounds. Two 61mm anti-ship or anti-air beam turrets. You can fire them manually, or autonomously. Two 25mm high-speed machine guns, mounted to the left and right of the intakes. You'll really only be able to use them in Fighter mode, so be sure to use those. As for missiles, well..." Vlad chuckles almost evilly. "The double loaded leg launchers have 140 missiles all told, and the chest and shoulder launchers have 128 missiles all told. Don't go crazy with those, by the way, you might blow up a friendly or two if you do."

"Anything else worth mentioning?"

"An upgraded Inertia Store Converter and engines on the standards of the VF-30s, fuselage-mounted rails for the gunpods in Battroid mode if you feel the need to punch something, but don't want to ditch the gunpod, and last but most certainly not least, a fold-wave system that lets you pierce fold faults like butter and boosts engine performance even further when space idols sing their hearts out."

"I take it this is a special prototype that needs real combat data?"

"That's right. You up for it?"

"Do I need to manually record data while I fly it?"

"Nope, it's already been set up to gather data on about anything you could do."

"Well, given that my primary purpose is to protect, in your words, space idols who sing their hearts out, I think this will do the job very nicely." Shiro's eyes were focused, but not necessarily on the fighter.

"You should go suit up, Captain. I'll finalize all the systems by the time you get back."

"Right. I just hope my team can hold on out there a little longer." Shiro says with a small frown as he turns to walk to the locker room behind them.

* * *

Whew, this chapter is long as hell, 16.5k words without Author's Notes. Also, sorry about publishing at "3/6/18" I had other shit to do, but I wasn't about to go back on my promise of posting this chapter, so I hope you all can forgive me. Also, if any of you are wondering why I put in a jacked VF-25 Messiah, well...I just felt like it. :D

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I estimate that the next chapter will take about two to three weeks, depending. Leave your comments and reviews, and I'll get back to you guys shortly!


End file.
